By Adam Clark

Sberbank Rossia (SBER.MZ) said Friday that its profit rose in the first eight months of its fiscal year, as its retail lending hit a record level and provisions fells.

The Russian lender said its pretax profit for the period to Aug. 31 came to 666.61 billion rubles ($9.66 billion), up 24% from the same period in 2017.

Net fee-and-commission income rose 25% to RUB278.35 billion, while net interest income climbed 6% to RUB833.64 billion.

Sberbank said that in August it made RUB304 billion in retail loans, its largest-ever amount in one month. Retail loans issued in the year-to-date have exceeded RUB2.0 trillion, while corporate loans issued stand at RUB8.6 trillion, Sberbank said.

Provision charges for the eight-month period came to RUB213.6 billion, down 5.8%. Sberbank said that in August, it took RUB41.3 billion in provisions, mainly due to the weaker ruble.

Sberbank said its core tier 1 capital as of the end of the period stood at RUB3.19 trillion, up 21% from the start of 2018.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@dowjones.com; @AdamDowJones

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 07, 2018 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)