Albanian BKT Bank reports rise in profits

TIRANA, Nov.13 – Albania’s privately-held National Commercial Bank (BKT), the second largest in terms of assets, TOTAL ASSETS of $774.319 million, reported an $8.1 million (6.3 million euro) net profit through September, up 26.6 percent from the year-ago period, bank data showed. BKT, which now is one of the wholly foreign-owned banks in Albania, was established in July 1997 with capital of 2.7 million leks ($26,000/22,000 euro) held by the state-run Albanian Commercial Bank (BTSH) and the Commercial Bank of Albania (BKSH). Now it has a share capital of $33 million and a total shareholders’ equity of $41.4 million. It ran a network of 25 outlets countrywide at the end of September. The bank started banking operations in 1998 and two years later its owners sold 60% to Turkey’s Kent Bank and 20% each to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank’s private investment arm, the International Finance Corporation. Kent Bank’s stake in BKT, which passed to the Turkish state-owned Savings Deposit Insurance Fund in 2001, was sold to Turkish consortium Calik-Seker last year.