* TCS says net profit up 36% y/y in Q2
* TCS revises 2019 loan growth forecast higher
* TCS confirms 2019 net profit forecast at above 35 bln roubles (Adds detail, quotes)
MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Russian retail lender TCS Group lifted its 2019 loan growth forecast 2019 to more than 60% on Tuesday, revising the key operating indicator for a third time this year from initially expected growth of 40%.
Reporting second-quarter financial results, TCS, the parent of Tinkoff Bank, said net profit rose 36% year on year to 8.2 billion roubles ($122.4 million), up from 6 billion roubles in the second quarter of 2018.
The increase in net profit was driven by TCS’ core credit business and growing revenue contributions from non-credit business lines, Oliver Hughes, CEO of Tinkoff Bank, said in the quarterly earnings report.
TCS said its net margin grew by 52% to 21.6 billion roubles in April-June. Net interest margin fell by 0.9 percentage points to 23.1% in the second quarter.
In the first six months of 2019, TCS’s total assets increased by 20% to 452.1 billion roubles.
Looking forward, TCS expects its net interest margin to decline further amid lower interest rates in Russia, Ilya Pisemsky, CFO at Tinkoff Bank said at a conference call.
The Russian central bank has lowered its key rate twice this year and said more cuts were in the pipeline.
TCS also upgraded its year-end guidance for cost of risk to 7-8% from 6-7%, the financial report showed.
TCS confirmed it expected to make more than 35 billion roubles in net profit in the whole of 2019.
$1 = 67.0100 roubles Reporting by Tatiana Voronova; writing by Anna Rzhevkina; editing by Andrey Ostroukh and David Evans
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