* Lender expects rise in 2026 profit, growth in coming

years

* CEO says interim dividend to be decided later in year

* Plans synthetic securitisation of 5%-8.5% of loan

portfolio

* Consolidation, higher free float medium-term ambitions

By Jason Hovet

PRAGUE, March 16 (Reuters) - Moneta Money Bank

expects to hit its profit target for 2026, despite

the Middle East conflict as diplomacy is likely to ease the

situation before it leads to lasting economic damage, the Czech

lender's chief executive said.

Tomas Spurny told Reuters that Moneta, the sixth biggest

Czech bank and largest without a majority foreign owner, would

also decide on an extraordinary dividend this year and consider

securitising between 5% and 8.5% of its loan portfolio.

Spurny said he did not think the impact of U.S. and Israeli

strikes on Iran, which have led to a spike in oil and gas

prices, was yet approaching the energy shock of Russia's 2022

invasion of Ukraine, while diplomacy was likely to ease the

conflict.

"I trust we will have good fortune to ... exceed the minimum

target as we have so far in every year," Spurny said on Friday.

Moneta expects net profit of 6.6 billion crowns ($308

million) in 2026, from 6.5 billion crowns last year, under an

outlook seeing profit in the next five years rising 39% versus

the previous five.

LOAN PORTFOLIO SECURITISATION

New lending volumes rose by 30% in January and February,

before the Iran conflict, Spurny said, adding that Moneta would

look at lending, and whether excess capital was needed, in the

third quarter when deciding on an interim dividend.

Moneta is also considering synthetic securitisation, which

transfers credit risk to investors without a sale of assets, for

15 billion to 25 billion crowns of its loan portfolio. If

approved, implementation could be in the first quarter of 2027.

"This would enable expansion of the nominal loan portfolio,"

added Spurny, who took over in 2015 when the bank was part of

U.S. conglomerate General Electric ( GE ) and needed to diversify.

CONSOLIDATION, FREE FLOAT AMBITIONS

Since a 2016 initial public offering in Prague, beginning

GE's withdrawal, Moneta has generated profit of 45.5 billion

crowns, distributing 93% in dividends, including an 11.50

crown-per-share proposal for next month's general meeting.

Its shares are up 28% at 182.0 crowns in the past year.

While Spurny is in favour of consolidation and thinks that

Moneta would have been stronger if a deal to merge with Air Bank

in 2022 had not fallen through, he said no meaningful deal talks

were currently underway.

Air Bank is owned by the PPF investment group of the family

of late billionaire Petr Kellner. PPF owns nearly 30% of Moneta,

while Czech billionaire Pavel Tykac and investment group J&T

each hold roughly 10%.

Spurny also wants to increase Moneta's free float in the

future, adding that an acquisition where issued shares helped

pay for a deal or shareholders deciding to redistribute shares

were options, but any action was still "speculation".

"I'm simply saying what I think the bank needs in the next

three years," he said, adding that increasing its free float

would boost Moneta's weight on the MSCI index and the liquidity

of its shares.

($1 = 21.4070 Czech crowns)