UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 13, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) keeps making more profit from its commission-based services as its business customer base is expanding, the bank’s press service reports.

In the first half of the year, the number of the bank’s business customers went up by as much as 15.6%, which resulted in a 33% increase in the net profit stemming from commission-based services (compared with the first six months of 2016).

Calculated in accordance with the International Accounting Standards, the bank’s commission profits came to over RUR 1bn in the first half of the year. This mostly results from legal entities’ cash and settlement transactions: the bank offered its services to more than 100,000 corporates as of July 1, with twice as many new business accounts opened in the given period than in the first half of 2016. 28% of new business customers migrated from state-run banks, 19% used to bank with another private bank, and 53% are newly set-up enterprises.

According to UBRD Corporates Development Director Elena Sorvina, commission profit remains an important and stable source of income for the bank. Moreover, this customer segment obviously has further growth potential. A business person entering a market on legal terms will always need a settlement account, and this is a very basic and popular kind of service a bank can provide.