Spain's Bankia earns 527 mln USD in first half of this year

Bankia earned 481 million euros (527 million US dollars) of net profit in the first semester of the year, the National Stock Exchange Commission reported on Friday.

The figure meant a 13.4 percent fall when compared with the same period of a year earlier, while in the second quarter alone Bankia earned 245 million euros, which meant a 3.5 percent increase since the first quarter of 2016.

Bankia's managing director, Jose Sevilla, highlighted the decrease in the bank's bad loan ratio that fell below the average of the system for the first time in the entity's history.

It fell by 1.244 million euros in the first semester to 11.751 billion, leaving the rate below 10 percent for the first time in four years.

Bankia, Spain's fourth largest bank, was seriously affected by the financial crisis and had to be bailed out by the Spanish government and the European Union after reporting big losses.

It was created in 2010 as a result of a merger between Caja Madrid and other five smaller saving banks.

Friday also saw Banco Sabadell report 425.3 million euros of net profits in the first semester of the year which meant a 20.7 percent increase when compared with the same period of a year earlier.

Banco Sabadell's bad loan ratio is at 6.83 percent, its lowest level since 2012. Bad loans fell by 1.039 billion euros from the first quarter to 10.634 billion euros in the second. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit