Catalan savings bank Unnim earns 25.4 million euros of profit during the first semester of 2011

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan savings bank Unnim ended the first semester of 2011 with a net profit of 25.4 million euros, which is 8.7% inferior to the results of the same period last year. Unnim explains this year’s decrease is because of the general economic situation and the costs of its merger, which was announced last summer. Unnim is a result of the transformation of the landscape of Spanish savings banks, the product of a merger of three Catalan saving banks: Caixa Terrassa, Caixa Sabadell and Caixa Manlleu. It is now a medium-size player in Catalonia’s banking sector, dominated by the giant La Caixa, which has now become CaixaBank. In the last stress tests released a month ago, Unnim failed in the worst possible scenario. Despite this however, the Bank of Spain discarded an intervention.

Unnim explains that the 8.7% decrease of its profit during the first half of 2011 in relation to last year is partly because of the merging costs, which needed a spending of 59.1 million euros, according to its Integration Plan. In addition, the economic crisis provoked “a weak credit demand in the entire sector”, as Unnim’s press release stated. Unnim’s arrears rate was 6.43% for the first half of 2011, over last fiscal year rate, which was 5.55%.