Banque BEMO published its audited financial statements for the year 2020 conveying a net after-tax profit of $1.10 million compared to a loss of $8.19 million a year earlier. In details, the bank’s net interest income rose by 4.52% y-o-y to $41.83 million coupled with a 119.85% expansion in net commission & fee income to $12.99 million. The increase in net interest income owes to Central Bank directives to lower interest rates paid on customer deposits as per the provisions of intermediate circulars 536 and 544.  In parallel, Banque BEMO registered net gains on financial instruments & other operating income of $4.91 million. It is worth noting that Banque BEMO constituted provisions on expected credit losses of just below $22 million for the year 2020, compared to $31.66 million in 2019, resulting in an 82.34% y-o-y increase in net operating income to $37.86 million. The rise in net operating income was met by a 17.76% increase in total operating expenses to $28.94 million. On the balance sheet front, Banque BEMO's total assets soared by 36.11% during the year 2020 to nearly $2.31 billion, mainly owing to an astronomical increase in cash, compulsory reserves and central banks by nearly 138% to $1.47 billion which outweighed the 26.28% drop in net loans & advances to $394.71 million. On the liabilities side, customer deposits rose by 42.27% during the year 2020 to $1.73 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans to customer deposits receded to 22.86% at end of year 2020, with shareholder’s equity ending the period 19.55% higher at $195.87 million.