Russia's VTB forecasts record $6.4 billion profit in 2024 on corporate loan growth

(Reuters) -Russia's second-largest lender VTB expects to make a record profit of up to 550 billion roubles ($6.39 billion) in 2024, CFO Dmitry Pyanov said, boosted by strong growth in corporate loans, its most profitable lending segment.

VTB's 2023 profit of 432.2 billion roubles was also a record, as the bank rebounded from a sanctions-induced loss of 667.5 billion roubles as it was cut off from the SWIFT global financial messaging system.

It posted an 8.5% rise in second-quarter net profit to 154.7 billion, and a return on equity for the first half of the year of 24.3%.

Pyanov said the bank was growing faster than the market, while a relatively low cost of risk and work to recover profits from assets blocked abroad were also supporting profitability.

Last year, Russian banks collectively made record profits of 3.3 trillion roubles, driven by sharp rises in mortgage, consumer and corporate lending even as the central bank jacked up interest rates to 16%.

The bank last week hiked rates by 200 basis points to 18%, their highest in more than two years. Pyanov told reporters he did not expect another increase before the end of the year.

($1 = 86.1000 roubles)

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)