Announcement of Q1 2018 operating result of SEB Bank Group in Lithuania

30.12.2018 - 11:10

In Q1 2018, net value of the loan and lease portfolio of the SEB Bank Group increased by 7 per cent, i.e. up to EUR 5.8 billion year on year, and the loan quality remained stable. SEB Bank’s deposit portfolio, including deposits of financial institutions, continued growing at a similar pace, i.e. 8 per cent, and stood at EUR 5.3 billion.

Comment by Raimondas Kvedaras, Chairman of the Management Board and President of SEB Bank

In Q1 2018, the total amount issued by SEB Bank in new loans to private individual and corporate customers was EUR 423 million (EUR 450 million yoy), of which mortgage, consumer loans as well as other loans for private individuals were EUR 98 million. This shows that the population’s consumption and borrowing behaviour remains rather rational. As a result of continued growth in wages and fall in unemployment, people in regions tend to be more confident in their economic standing and inclined to invest their savings in acquisition or renovation of residential property. Also, we get strong signals of interest from people in the regions in mortgage loans partly compensated by the state, therefore, we have concluded an agreement on with the Ministry of Social Security and Labour on issuing such loans within the period 2018–2020.

In Q1, new loans issued by SEB Bank to corporate customers amounted to EUR 325 million. We are a financial partner for people with entrepreneurial minds and innovative companies, therefore, aiming at the state’s long-term economic growth we encourage entrepreneurship and innovations: at our recently opened SEB Innovation Centre in Vilnius we created space for the generation of innovations in cooperation with customers and partners, and special focus will be on projects related to open banking. The Centre already runs a free-of-charge Business Growth Programme for small and medium enterprises involving 15 enterprises. Also, the first start-ups are setting up at the Centre.

Aiming at our bank operating efficiency and following the digitalisation trends, we are looking for new ways of working, continue with automation of processes and launch of higher efficiency operations management models, e.g. in Q1 our bank launched the first so-called robot, which improved our factoring service process and automated some of its previously manual steps.

Key data of SEB Bank Group in Lithuania

In Q1 2018, unaudited net profit earned by SEB Bank amounted to EUR 23.4 million (or 8 per cent higher as compared to Q1 2017, when its net profit was EUR 21,7 million); SEB Bank Group earned EUR 24.0 million, or 17 per cent higher as compared to Q1 2017, when its net profit was EUR 20.4 million.
Lithuanian state budget contributions in various taxes paid in Q1 2018 by the SEB Group companies operating in Lithuania amounted to EUR 18.8 million.
Equity of the SEB Bank Group as of 31 March 2018 was EUR 689 million (EUR 694 million yoy), i.e. decreased by 1 per cent as a result of dividend payment to parent company Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB at the beginning of the year.
Assets of the SEB Bank Group as of 31 March 2018 totalled EUR 7.1 billion (EUR 7.6 billion yoy), i.e. decreased by 7 per cent as a result of the repayment of a part of debt to the parent company.
In Q1 2018, income of the SEB Bank Group was EUR 46.5 million (EUR 41.3 million yoy), i.e. increased by 13 per cent.
SEB Bank’s deposit portfolio as of 31 March 2018, amounted to EUR 5.3 billion (EUR 4.9 billion yoy), i.e. increased by 8 per cent.
As of 31 March 2018, net worth of the SEB Bank Group’s credit and lease portfolio totalled EUR 5.8 billion (EUR 5.4 billion yoy), i.e. increased by 7 per cent.
As at the end of March 2018, the number of active users of SEB Internet Bank was 482 thousand, and more than 140 thousand used SEB mobile app.
There was a rise in the number of payments by card: in Q1 2018, the share of payments by card increased by 3.8 percentage points (from 41.5 per cent in Q1 2017 to 45.3 per cent in Q1 2018).
As at the end of March 2018, SEB Bank had 32 customer service units in Lithuania, 19 of them –financial advisory units. In Q1, the Bank was further rearranging its customer service branch network: another three branches started functioning as financial advisory where employees can devote more of their time to services creating the greatest customer value, i.e. to financial advice, and customers can execute cash transactions on their own at self-service zones open 24/7.
Customers of SEB Bank have access to the largest ATM network in Lithuania which includes ATMs of SEB and Luminor (former DNB), i.e. 518 ATMs, and more than 1,200 points of sale, where they can withdraw cash free of charge when paying by card.
The AB SEB bankas Group in Lithuania consists of AB SEB bankas, UAB “SEB investicijų valdymas”, UAB “SEB Venture Capital”. Also, there are other companies of the SEB Group operating in Lithuania: “SEB gyvybės draudimas”, “Litectus” and SEB Shared Service Centre in Vilnius.