MADRID, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Spain's fifth largest bank, Bankia, achieved a net attributable profit of 514 million euros (598 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, the bank reported on Wednesday.
The figure meant a 6.7-percent increase over the same period last year.
According to the bank, "strong revenue from the traditional banking business, coupled with cost control and lower provisioning due to the decline in non-performing loan rates and the reduction of foreclosed assets" would explain the rise in profits.
The bank's non-performing loan rate decreased by 922 million euros in the first half of 2017, Bankia said, adding that the ratio dropped by 0.7 percent to 9.1 percent.
New mortgage lending rose by 129 percent from January to June year-on-year and 30 percent of the loans granted were to non-customers, Bankia said.
Meanwhile, the customer base has grown by 107,000 over the last 12 months, the bank reported, highlighting a "strong improvement in customer satisfaction".
"The first half of the year has been characterized by a strong push in the commercial activity. We granted more mortgages in these six months than in the whole of 2016," Bankia's CEO Jose Sevilla stated.
Bankia was created in 2010 as a result of a merger between Caja Madrid and other five smaller saving banks. It was hit by the financial crisis and had to be bailed out by the government and the European Union (EU) after reporting big losses.
