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Bank Leumi posts 17.4% YOY rise in Q1 net income

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Bank Leumi posts 17.4% YOY rise in Q1 net income

Bank Leumi le-Israel BM reported first-quarter unaudited net income attributed to shareholders of 730 million Israeli shekels, up from the audited 622 million shekels in the same period in 2017.

EPS amounted to 48 agorot in the period, compared to the year-ago 41 agorot.

Return on equity for the quarter stood at 9.0%, compared to 8.1% a year ago.

Net interest income rose on a yearly basis to 2.01 billion shekels from 1.87 billion shekels. Fees and commissions also increased year over year, to 1.05 billion shekels from 1.02 billion shekels.

Noninterest finance income amounted to 51 million shekels, compared to 255 million shekels a year earlier.

Credit loss expenses increased year over year to 130 million shekels from 101 million shekels.

Bank Leumi's board of directors approved the distribution of about 292 million shekels in dividends for the first quarter, to be paid June 19. The dividend is equivalent to 40% of the lender's net income for the period.

The bank's ratio of common equity Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted components reached 11.11% at the end of March, compared to 11.43% as of Dec. 31, 2017. The total capital ratio to risk components stood at 14.32% at March-end, compared to 14.99% at the end of 2017.

Bank Leumi also said it plans to commence a share buyback of up to 700 million shekels, or 2% of its shares, by March 31, 2019, subject to meeting a Tier 1 equity ratio of more than or equal to 10.9%, Reuters reported.

The share buyback would be the first by an Israeli lender in more than three decades, the newswire noted.

As of May 23, US$1 was equivalent to 3.57 Israeli shekels.