Weekly Global News Wrap: US banks’ profits down 40%; NYCB loses $5b in deposits

And Greece’s biggest lender optimistic profits will grow through 2026.

From Reuters:
US banks saw their profits drop by 43.9% in the last three months of 2023, according to a report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Roughly 70% of the decline in bank profits were due to specific, non-recurring expenses at large banks, primarily a special assessment fee larger banks were ordered to pay to the FDIC to replenish its deposit insurance fund. 

In all of 2023, bank profits were down 2.3% to $257b, but remained above pre-pandemic levels, the FDIC said.

From CNBC:
US lender New York Community Bank revealed that it has lost 7% of its deposits prior to announcing a $1b capital injection from investors.

The bank had $77.2b in deposits as of 5 March, NYCB said in an investor presentation tied to the capital raise. That was down from $83b it had as of 5 Feb, the day before Moody’s Investors Service cut the bank’s credit ratings to junk.

NYCB has also slashed its quarterly divided by 80% to just 1 cent per share, from 5 cents per share previously.

The bank paid a 17-cent dividend until reporting a surprise fourth-quarter loss that kicked off a negative news cycle for the Long Island-based lender.

From Reuters:
Greece’s biggest lender Eurobank Holdings expects profit to rise to $1.75b by 2026, as it expects to benefit from its growing businesses in Cyprus and Bulgaria.

Core operating profit rose by 69.4% in 2023 to 1.47 billion euros.