The after-tax profit of K&H Bank rose 20% year on year to HUF67bn (€170mn) in the first half, when cleared of the impact of government measures, the local unit of Belgium's KBC said on September 9.

Hungary's third-largest lender by assets has faced significant headwinds due to government-imposed measures, including the extraordinary profit tax, banking taxes and interest rate caps. These factors had a HUF40bn pre-tax negative impact on the group’s overall financial performance.

Despite government levies the net, unconsolidated profit of Hungarian banks surged 44% to HUF972bn in H1. Excluding the HUF421bn in dividends from foreign units, the majority coming from OTP’s subsidiaries, net profit of the sector grew 32% y/y in January-June. 

K&H's client numbers rose 5% to 990,000 during the period, while the number of clients whose monthly pay cheques were transferred to their accounts increased 6% to 613,000.

Lending stock grew 10% to HUF2.97 trillion as outlays reached HUF275bn.

Corporate lending stock rose 9% as outlays reached HUF120bn. Retail lending stock climbed 11% as new mortgage contracts were over HUF100bn. Stock of client deposits increased 10% to HUF3.78 trillion.

K&H continues to make strides in digital banking, with over 720,000 digitally active clients and around 60% of new retail accounts are opened online. More than 650,000 customers have used the bank’s voice-based digital financial assistant, a novelty on the market.

The insurance business had a HUF0.7bn loss in H1 as the windfall profit tax weighed. Revenue from premiums of general insurance policies rose 10% to HUF39.8bn.

In 2024, K&H received two awards from the Euromoney financial magazine, winning the "Best Bank in Hungary 2024" award for the fifth time and the "Best Digital Bank in Hungary 2024" award.