MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian state bank VTB on Tuesday reported a more than fourfold increase in net profit to a record 327.4 billion roubles ($4.1 billion) in 2021, rebounding from a sharp drop the year before when the coronavirus pandemic squeezed earnings.
Collectively, Russian banks made a record 2.4 trillion roubles of profit last year as an economic rebound revived loans growth and boosted interest in real estate assets, the central bank said in January.
In the fourth quarter, VTB’s net profit was 69.8 billion roubles, up from 16.2 billion roubles in October-December of 2020.
VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank by assets, said its return on equity (RoE), a key measure of profitability, rose to 16.5% in 2021, while its cost of risk declined by 120 basis points to 0.7%.
($1 = 79.7025 roubles)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrey Ostroukh)
