TBC Bank Group PLC on Wednesday reported a profit rise in the final quarter of 2022 and in the full year, as net interest income jumped on higher interest rates.

For the last quarter of 2022, the Tbilisi, Georgia-headquartered lender posted a pretax profit of ₾370.7 million, around £117.8 million, up 1.5% from ₾365.1 million a year prior. Net interest income rose 5.0% to ₾357.4 million from ₾340.4 million.

For all of 2022, TBC Bank reported a pretax profit of ₾1.25 billion, up 35% from ₾921.4 million in 2021. Net interest income jumped 29% to ₾1.29 billion from ₾1.00 billion.

TBC said it benefited from the growing economy of Georgia, which it said expanded by 10% in 2022.

Return on equity in 2022 improved to 27.0% from 26.3% in 2021.

The bank said as at December 31, it had a common equity tier 1 ratio of 15.5%, a tier 1 ratio of 18.0% and a total capital ratio of 21.0%, up from 13.7%, up from 16.7%, and up from 20.3% respectively a year prior.

Looking ahead, the bank cautioned of the challenging political situation near Georgia. It is a neighbour of Russia, from where at least 260,000 military-aged men have fled to Georgia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Time magazine reported in September. Georgia’s population in 2021 was about 3.7 million.

More positively, TBC noted its business grew in nearby Uzbekistan, where it said net profit was ₾12 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The bank’s total monthly number of transactions in the fourth quarter in Uzbekistan jumped 87% to 3.2 million from 1.7 million.

In the fourth quarter compared to the third, its Uzbekistan-focused TBC UZ Bank’s net profit from Payme grew 71% to ₾12.8 million from ₾7.5 million. Payme is a financial services platform.

TBC Bank shares fell 6.9% to 2,345.00 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

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