Pekao expects improved Q2 results

Eastern Europe's largest listed bank, Pekao, should post second-quarter results in line with, or better than, those of the first quarter, its CEO Maria Wiśniewska said on Monday. In the first quarter, net profit at the flagship regional unit of Italy's Unicredito dropped 12% year on year to zł. 256 million while net interest income was off 17% at zł. 640 million. Wiśniewska said there were some signs that the economy is emerging from the stagnation that has weakened banks' bottom lines by pushing up provisions for bad debt. "Any economic recovery shows up in banks' results with a certain delay... in the second quarter we are seeing the first signs that the economy is picking up - more and more companies are starting new investments," she said. (Reuters) A.K.