Poland's PKO BP posts 13% profit rise for second quarter

GDANSK (Reuters) -Poland's biggest bank PKO BP reported a 13.2% year-on-year rise in its second-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven by a higher net interest income.

The largest Polish bank by total assets posted a net profit of 2.66 billion zlotys ($730.7 million) for the quarter, beating market expectations of 2.55 billion zlotys, according to consensus data it had compiled.

Its quarterly net interest income grew 21.7% year-on-year to 6.15 billion zlotys, while net fee and commission income fell 0.2% to 1.28 billion zlotys.

Net interest margin was at 4.91% in the second quarter compared to 4.95% in the first. The bank said the decline reflected lower interest rates, but was fully compensated by strong volume growth.

Poland's Central Bank cut the main interest rate by 25 basis points to 5% in July, citing its expectation for a clear decline in inflation in the coming months and surprising markets which had expected the cost of credit to remain unchanged.

While the bank's governor Adam Glapinski said that the cut was not the start of a broader easing cycle, he left the door open to another cut in September.

Return on equity (ROE) ratio, a measure of profitability, reached 19.4% at the end of June. Under its strategy until 2027, the bank targets a ROE above 18%.

($1 = 3.6403 zlotys)

(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)