MILAN (Reuters) - Italian mid-sized lender Credito Valtellinese (MI:PCVI) plans to borrow up to 1 billion euros in fresh longer-term funds the European Central Bank will offer lenders starting from September in a bid to spur lending to companies, its chief executive said on Thursday.
"At the first round, in September, we're planning to ask for funds worth around 900 million to 1 billion euros," Creval CEO Miro Fiordi told analysts on a conference call.
Creval on Thursday reported an 11 percent rise in first-half net profit as sharply higher loan loss provisions partly offset rising interest and trading income, and said the cost of credit would continue to weigh on profitability.
Creval paid back 750 million euros in the first half in longer-term ECB loans borrowed at the height of the euro zone crisis and still has 2.2 billion euros in such emergency loans, it said.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Lisa Jucca)