Feb 29 (Reuters) - Austrian lender Erste Group beat full-year profit expectations on Thursday driven by a strong operating performance and low risk costs.
Erste, a key player in the banking sector in many Central and Eastern European countries, reported an annual net profit attributable to owners of the parent at 3 billion euros ($3.25 billion).
That slightly beat analysts' expectations of 2.96 billion, a company-provided poll showed.
Post-pandemic recovery and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have driven up inflation in the euro zone, which in turn has pushed central banks around Europe to raise their interest rates to record highs.
Erste's net interest income, a key measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, rose 21.5% to 7.23 billion euros last year, while analysts were expecting 7.28 billion euros. ($1 = 0.9229 euros) (Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Paolo Laudani in Gdansk, Editing by Milla Nissi)
