First International Bank of Israel (FIBI) reported a dip in third-quarter net profit, hurt by a quadrupling of its provisions to protect against future loan defaults due to economic uncertainty during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Reuters reports.
FIBI, Israel’s fifth largest bank, also said it would keep unchanged its dividend policy of paying out 50 per cent of annual net profit.
Net profit for the July-September quarter was 455 million shekels ($124 million), down from 467 million shekels a year earlier. FIBI said it had 165mn shekels in credit loss expenses in the quarter, versus 43mn the previous year.
“The growth in our revenue allows us to create higher financial buffers at this time, both as buffers against credit losses and capital buffers, mainly against the background of uncertainty in the economy and concerns regarding predicted macro-economic impacts, as well as developments in geo-political conditions,” said CEO Smadar Barber-Tsadik.
