CatalunyaCaixa bank registers €187m profit until September

The net profit of Spanish nationalized bank CatalunyaCaixa stood at 187 million euros (253.3 million U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of 2013, local media reported Friday. This meant a 110.6 percent increase compared with that in the same period of 2012, according to the bank. This data were presented by CatalunyaCaixa's President Jose Carlos Pla and Finance Director Josep Maria Panicello, who were optimistic about the evolution of the lender after its recapitalization and restructuring process. Panicello said"CatalunyaCaixa did everything that it had to do" to make the group getting stronger. He noticed that the bank had a high level of liquidity of 16 billion euros compare to 3.4 billion euros in September 2012. The finance chief announced that the bank's non-performing loan rate reached 12 percent in the third quarter of this year and predicted it will drop in the future as unemployment rate is expected to fall thanks to Spain's economic growth. Bad debts within the entity had significantly decreased after CatalunyaCaixa transferred a big proportion of their real estate assets to the Spanish "bad bank". CatalunyaCaixa was nationalized along with other four entities (Banco de Valencia, Novagalicia Bank and Bankia). It received 9.08 billion euros from the European Union as a part of the 36.968 billion euros bailout Spanish banks received to be recapitalized. (1 euro = 1.35 U.S. dollars)