Q1 <nobr>pre-tax</nobr> profit sinks at Baikalbank

PRIME-TASS. Baikalbank, based in Ulan-Ude, reported a 39.9% y-o-y decline in its pre-tax profit to Rub 17.07 mln in January-March 2009, the bank said in a press release.

Compared to Q108 the lender’s assets climbed by 16.6% and reached Rub 3.61 bln as of April 1, 2009, whereas net debt soared 51.9% y-o-y to Rub 2.67 bln and funds held with lending institutions sank 7.8x to Rub 25.16 bln.

Against January-March 2008 lending institutions’ resources shrank threefold to Rub 120.74 mln, funds of clients (non-lending institutions) grew 11.3% to Rub 2.44 bln, client deposits rose 12.9% to Rub 1.79 bln, issued debt obligations shot up 8.3 times to Rub 96.96 mln. As of April 1, 2009 the bank’s total liabilities amounted to Rub 3.10 bln, i.e. 18.9% more against as of April 1, 2008.

Baikalbank was registered by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in December 1993 and is the only independent bank in the Republic of Buryatia.