The bank generated a net profit of EUR 34.57m following a net loss of EUR 31.54m in 2013, follows from SKB Group's filing with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The group, which is part of France's banking group Societe Generale, says the profit is the result of increased net banking income and cost streamlining.

It cut operating costs by 5.5% last year so that the costs to income ratio decreased to 51.6% from 57.6% in 2013.

The bank reduced the amount of provisions to EUR 2.79m from over EUR 3m in 2013 and impairments were down to EUR 4.69m from EUR 75.22m in 2013.

SKB Leasing generated a pre-tax profit of EUR 6m, up 22% from 2013. The volume of new transactions grew by 27%, which ranks the firm among the largest three leasing companies in Slovenia.