All banks within the group generated profit, contributing 39% to the group's profit before taxes, with the parent company's profit up 21% to almost EUR 163 million.

The group's profit before impairments and provisions stood at EUR 170.3 million, up 7%.

The group released provisions to the tune of EUR 9.7 million, down from EUR 19 million in the same period last year.

Despite very low interest rates, net operating revenue rose by 4% to EUR 384.7 million, mostly on account of higher net interest revenue and higher revenue from net fees and commissions.

Net loans reached almost EUR 7.5 billion, up 5% over the end of 2018, and customers' deposits also went up by 5% to EUR 11.04 billion.

The group's total assets rose by 6% to EUR 13.49 billion.

The share of non-performing loans dropped by 1.7 points to 5.2% from the end of 2018, with the share of internationally comparable non-performing exposure down 1.2 points 3.5%.

The group's total capital ratio reached 16.1% by the end of September, down 0.6 points from the end of 2018, but was still above the regulatory requirement of 14.75%.

The supervisors also welcomed the decision of the New York-based company MSCI to include NLB's shares in its indices MSCI Slovenia and MSCI Frontier Markets on 27 November. It hailed it as "an important milestone" that will ensure higher stock liquidity.

"Despite the challenging economic environment of historically low interest rates, the group successfully continues with its activities to achieve the set mid-term financial targets." One of the goals until 2023 is to keep return on equity above 12%.

The supervisors moreover appointed Petr Brunclik from the Czech Republic the new chief operating officer, pending approval from the Slovenian central bank. He will replace Hungarian Laszlo Pelle, who left on 1 November for personal reasons.