BEKB had a profit of 55.4 million Swiss francs in the first six months of 2016, one million less than a year earlier, the bank said in a statement today. The decline in profitability came despite the institutes effort to cut costs and reduce the headcount.

BEKB, majority-owned by the canton of Bern, has reduced its staff by 51 full-time equivalents, about 5 percent of the total, after a cut of 46 in 2015.

Job Cuts

With the reduction in staff numbers, the bank has further reduced its costs to 126.9 million francs, a drop by 0.6 percent. BEKB today has 1,040 full-time equivalents.

The decline in costs was more than offset by a 0.5 percent drop in net interest income to 150.4 million, commissions, which declined to 47.3 million from 49.6 million and lower earnings from holdings (8.3 million compared with 13.2 million).

Increase in Net New Money

BEKB said mortgages increased 1.2 percent to 19.6 billion in the first half. Net new money increased by 110.1 million and assets under management reached 20.9 billion francs.

The bank will continue with its focus on keeping a tight cost control in place. Full-year profit will however not quite reach the level attained in 2015.