OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2011. The SEB Group released its interim results for the second quarter of 2011 today. Information on the results is available here: www.sebgroup.com/ir, reported the press-centre of SEB.

Eerika Vaikmae-Koit, member of the management board of SEB Bank, comments on the results of SEB’s units in Estonia:

SEB’s corporate clients are becoming more active
“The activity of our corporate clients has been increasing significantly during recent quarters. The volume of SEB’s ongoing loan projects increased by EUR 100 million in the second quarter and now exceeds EUR 500 million. The growth is driven by the companies that export their products, and food industry and agriculture stand out in addition to manufacturing industry. Start-ups are also paying increasingly more attention to export – the new companies that banked with SEB mostly made payments to foreign banks until 2009, but money received from export is dominating these days. This shows that cash flow in Estonia is not moving at the macro level alone, but also at the level of start-ups, which shows the scope of export.

The developments on the private client market are also interesting. The mobile phone is becoming an important banking channel and simplifying routine activities has become the standard. For example, 80% of private clients receive new bankcards free by post and no longer have to collect them at branches. The number of merchants who accept card payments is growing fast alongside the increase in the number of card payments. Approximately 1000 new merchants now accept card payments via SEB, which is the biggest increase of the last five years. The number of home loans granted in the second quarter was higher than a year ago, but clients are still cautious about borrowing.

SEB’s cooperation with one of the world’s largest insurance companies RSA has increased competition on the Estonian insurance market, which has made risk reduction easier and cheaper for clients.”

SEB’s Estonian units finished the second quarter of 2011 with a profit of EUR 31.6 million (SEB’s profit in the same quarter of the previous year was EUR 3.4 million). SEB’s operating revenue amounted to EUR 34.6 million in the second quarter (31.9 million in the second quarter of 2010) and operating expenses to EUR 16.7 million (17.2 million in the second quarter of 2010). The bank reduced provisions for credit losses by EUR 13.6 million in the second quarter of 2011 (compared to EUR 11.2 million in the second quarter of 2010). The total profit for the first half of the year was EUR 48 million (rounded to EUR 0 in the previous year).

Excerpts from the materials published today by the SEB Group, which provide more detailed information about SEB Estonia’s results, are enclosed.