Italy's BPER swings to H1 net profit
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna (BPER) swung to a net profit of 35.9 million euros (28.48 million pounds) in the first half as trading and interest income rose in the period and it put aside less money against loan losses.
The bank said that a recently concluded 750 million euro share sale had boosted its best-quality Common Equity Tier 1 capital to 10.43 percent of risk-weighted assets.
BPER said loan writedowns in the period fell 5 percent from a year earlier.
BPER had posted a loss of 21.5 million euros in the first half of 2013, hurt by a 52 percent increase in loan loss provisions and higher taxes as it completed a review of its loan book following guidelines from the national regulator.
(Reporting by Valentina Za)
