Nordea Estonia’s 1st Quarter Profitable
29.04.2009
Nordea Bank Estonia which is part of the biggest Nordic financial group was able to sustain its profitability regardless of the economic downturn and finished the first quarter with a net profit of 95.4 million kroons. Compared to the same period last year, the first quarter net profits rose by 22%.
Compared to the first quarter of last year, the assets of Nordea Estonia grew by 41%, to 48.2 billion kroons.
At the end of the quarter, the volume of Nordea’s loan and leasing portfolio in Estonia as at the end of the quarter is more than 40.2 billion kroons, which represents a yearly growth of 8.4 billion kroons or 27%. The corporate loan and leasing portfolio at the end of March was 24.8 billion kroons or nearly a quarter more than a year before. The retail portfolio grew by 19% to nearly 14 billion kroons. The share of losses in the whole loan portfolio was 0.02%.
By the end of March, the volume of deposits by Nordea’s Estonian clients amounted to over 12 billion kroons. Compared to the end of the first quarter of the last year, deposits grew by 49%; deposits of corporate clients grew by 63% and the deposits of private customers by 48%.
According to the head of Nordea Bank Estonia Vahur Kraft, the first quarter results are satisfactory. “Our focus this year lay with both widening the client base as well as advising our clients. We are now paying more attention to different new target groups, e.g. private banking customers and young customers. Our priority is to offer our clients quality banking service by giving advice for better management of one’s finances in tough times while remaining a trustworthy and honest partner. We will definitely be watching the quality of our loan portfolio very carefully and assessing its adequacy in the context of the changes in the economic environment,” Kraft added. “We and our clients are reassured by the fact that Nordea belongs among the five best capitalised banks in Europe!”
At the end of March, Nordea Bank had 102 295 clients, 22 offices and 440 employees. By the end of the quarter, the bank had issued 71 097 bank cards and had 64 381 internet bank users.
Similarly to Nordea Estonia, the whole Nordea banking group demonstrated strong growth in the beginning of the year. The group’s operating profit at the end of the first quarter was 833 million euros, up by a fifth compared to the previous quarter. Net profit of the Nordea banking group in the first quarter was 627 million euros or 13 % more than at the end of last year.
Nordea group’s loan portfolio grew by 8% in a year and amounted to 274 billion euros at the end of March.
"I am satisfied that Nordea has once again achieved the combination of improved results and business growth, while standing by our core customers in difficult market conditions. Higher loan losses are inevitable when the economy is contracting at an unprecedented speed. With our strong capital base, further strengthened by the rights issue, we are able to maintain our position as one of the strongest banks in Europe", says Christian Clausen, President and Group CEO of Nordea.
A slide-show on Nordea Group’s economic results can be found at: http://www.nordea.com/sitemod/upload/root/eu/interim/Media_analyst_presentation_Q109.pdf
Nordea Bank Estonia is part of the biggest Nordic financial group. The group has around 10 million customers, approximately 1,400 branch offices and a leading netbanking position with 5.1 million e-customers. The noted financial publication Global Finance ranked Nordea Bank at the top of world’s most trustworthy banks.
