Banks Frutigen savings and loan association with slightly more profit

Spar- und Leihkasse Frutigen (SLF) earned slightly more in the first half of the year. Operating income rose slightly by 0.4 percent.

The individual business areas developed differently. In the largest business area, the interest differential business, net income fell by 5.4 percent to CHF 9.5 million compared to the previous year's extraordinary result, as the bank announced in a press release on Thursday.

The reason for the decline was the higher interest expense on customer deposits such as medium-term notes and savings accounts.

However, the commission and services business, which includes the investment business, achieved a pleasing result. Income here rose by 7.5 percent to CHF 961,000.

The item "Other ordinary income" achieved additional income of 119,000 francs. This was mainly due to the rental income from the property in Reichenbach, which the SLF moved into in February 2024, which was included in the accounts for the first time.

Overall, gross income fell by 3.2 percent to CHF 11.0 million. On the other hand, operating expenses rose slightly by 0.4 percent to CHF 4.1 million. After depreciation and provisions, SLF reported a net operating income of CHF 4.1 million for the first half of 2024 (+0.4 percent).

Loans increased by 0.7 percent to 1.5 billion francs. Of this, 1.4 billion were mortgages, which is 0.8 percent more than at the end of 2023. "The fixed-rate mortgage was the product most in demand. The Saron mortgage offer, on the other hand, was no longer heavily used in the meantime, but has become more attractive again thanks to the two interest rate reductions by the Swiss National Bank," wrote the SLF.