(Sharecast News) - Third quarter net profit at Georgia's TBC Bank rose to GEL 126.8m (£33.3m) from GEL 107.4m a year earlier driven by an increase in net fee and commission income, which offset lower net interest earnings.
Third quarter net interest income fell 6.7% to GEL 186.2m, while fee and commission income was up by a fifth to GEL 47.1m. Other operating non-interest income increased 19% to GEL 46.4m.

The bank on Thursday said net interest margin decreased by 0.4 percentage points (pp) quarter-on-quarter, due to the continued effect of a new regulation limiting the bank's ability to lend money to higher-yield retail customers.

A further decrease of 0.2 pp was related to excess liquidity and the pre-payment fee of a subordinated loan, it added.

The bank's net interest margin stood at 5% and was expected to stabilise at that level.

TBC's loan book expanded by 21.4% year-on-year, or by 14.3% on a constant currency basis.

As a result, market share increased to 38.7%, up 0.3 pp year-on-year. Customer accounts grew by 13.2% year-on-year leading to a market share of 39.3%, down by 1 pp year-on-year.

"The slight decline in market share is the result of decreased focus on customer deposits during the third quarter due to high liquidity following the recent bond issuance," TBC said.