Nordea Baltics reported EUR 91 million profits for the 2015 financial year compared to EUR 26 million in 2014.
Total income increased by 11%, whereas net commission income went up 16% year-on-year, driven by the growing number of transactions both in the household and corporate segments. A strong outcome in terms of foreign exchange and derivatives contributed to an improved net fair value result. Total deposits increased by 5% in relation to current accounts, due to continued focus on home-bank relationships.
“Nordea has shown strong financial performance in the Baltics throughout the year. As the domestic economy picked up significantly with private consumption and domestically-oriented investments, the demand for various bank savings and investments products also showed stable growth. We have positively contributed to our business strategy, ensuring more efficient and sustainable balance sheet structure. Due to increasing deposit volumes and stable trends in corporate lending, deposit/lending ratio has improved significantly,” says Inga Skisaker, Head of Nordea Banking for the Baltic countries. “When developing our product offerings, we aim to provide solutions for current economic environment to best align to our customer needs. That is also the main driving force behind significant ongoing developments in online banking, best-in-class risk management offering and cash management solutions. Close cooperation with our customers and increasing customer activity will remain important part of relationship banking strategy.”
Latvia:
In 2015, Nordea in Latvia reported a stable growth of total income amounting to EUR 69.5 million, an increase by 22% year on year. Operating profit before corporate tax amounted to EUR 30.9 million. Net interest income showed a slight increase delivering to EUR 54.2 million, whereas the total net commission income amounted to EUR 10.8 million, increased by 17% year-on-year and was mainly driven by more focus on stronger customer relations, stable growth of active customers and an overall increase of positive consumer sentiment.
The total deposit portfolio showed continuous growth, reaching a figure of EUR 1.53 billion strongly supported by volume increase in household deposits (8% year-on-year). The corporate business portfolio showed an increase of 2% on the same period in 2014. The lending volumes remained in previous levels amounting to EUR 2.62 billion.
“This financial year yielded convincing results for all business areas. Despite the turbulence in the economy, record low euro interest rates and weaker lending demand in both private and corporate customer segments, especially in the beginning of the year, our customers appreciate the advantages of financial solutions provided by the bank. Due to a rise of salaries and positive trends in labour market, especially we see large improvement in private customer segment, providing the biggest increase for demand of different savings and investments instruments. Moreover, overall home-bank customer activity shows a stable increase that is a strong signal of having more satisfied and loyal customers,” says Janis Buks, Head of Nordea Bank in Latvia.