Banks Raiffeisen with profit decline in the first half of the year

The Raiffeisen Group earned less in the first half of 2024. The interest business in particular was down on the previous year.

Net profit fell by 8.4 percent to 642 million francs in the reporting period, as Switzerland's second-largest banking group announced on Wednesday. Net operating income, a measure of operating performance, even fell by 13.2 percent to 776 million.

Despite the decline in profit, the bank's management speaks of a "pleasing first half-year". It is the second-best half-year result since the banking group was founded. After an exceptionally strong prior-year period, the decline is also in line with the forecast made at the beginning of the year. Mortgage receivables and customer deposits have increased and the net inflow of new money in the pension and investment business is continuing.

The main reason for the decline is the interest rate trend. As a result of the ongoing increase in savings interest rates in the wake of the SNB key interest rate hikes in the previous year, gross income from the interest business and thus the bank's most important pillar of income fell by 7.6 percent to CHF 1.43 billion, as the bank writes. Total income fell by 4.4 percent to 1.95 billion.

Raiffeisen is confident for the full year 2024 and expects "continued solid business development and a good result, which will not, however, reach the extraordinary level of the previous year."