19-05-2025
Israel Discount Bank's first-quarter profit slips on higher default provision
TEL AVIV, May 19 (Reuters) - Israel Discount Bank ( opens new tab reported a 2% decline in quarterly profit after a higher provision to protect against loan defaults offset a gain in financing income.
Discount, Israel's fourth-largest bank, on Monday said it earned 1.04 billion shekels ($294 million) in the first quarter, compared with 1.05 billion a year earlier. Its return on equity slipped to 13% from 14.6%.
Credit loss expenses jumped 39% to 114 million shekels, while net financing income grew 5% to 2.66 billion shekels.
Discount said it would raise its distribution to shareholders to 50% from 40% once permitted by Israel's banking regulator.
For the first quarter, Discount will pay a dividend of 30% of quarterly net profit plus buy back shares for another 10%.
The bank's Tier 1 capital ratio dipped to 10.54% in March from 10.66 at the end of 2024.
Earlier, larger rival Hapoalim ( opens new tab reported a first-quarter profit of 2.42 billion shekels, up from 1.94 billion a year earlier.
($1 = 3.5396 shekels)
