OREANDA-NEWS. May 13, 2014. In Q1 2014, Nordea continued on a stable growth path, strengthening its position as a home bank offering customers  full advisory services.

Nordea Estonia, part of a leading European financial group, increased its clientele relationship customers or all customers ? by 8.1% and volume of savings and loan products by 21% y/y. The household loan and leasing portfolio increased by 3% y/y.
 
„Nordea’s clear aim is to stand out as a consulting home bank, offering its household customers best advice on how to organise their everyday finances, especially in the current economic climate. The Q1 results indicate that our efforts in promoting the habits of saving and investing among our customers have borne fruit,“ says Andres Laane, head of Nordea Estonia.

„This year’s Q1 results were considerably impacted by the introduction of SEPA, the related investments and development work. Market regulations and directives are increasingly challenging the speed and volume of banks’ income growth,“ Laane adds.

In Q1 2014, Nordea Estonia was highly recognised on an international level. Based on its annual survey, the international finance magazine Global Finance named Nordea the Bank of the Year in Estonia. And for the sixth consecutive year, the international finance magazine Euromoney acknowledged Nordea as the best private banking service provider in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Q1 2014 compared to q1 2013, the deposit volume of Nordea Estonia’s customers has increased by 20%, including a 23% growth for households, with their total deposit volume exceeding EUR 340 million. Nordea’s deposit to loan ratio has increased from 38% to 45% in a year.

Year-onYear, Nordea Estonia’s loan portfolio exceeded EUR 3.1 billion, of which the leasing portfolio constituted EUR 629. The corporate loan and leasing portfolio amounted to more than EUR 1.9 billion and household loan and leasing portfolio to more than EUR 1 billion. Year-on year, the household loan and leasing portfolio increased by 3%, the corporate portfolio has remained stable. Number of xxx customers has gone up by 8.1% y/y; most of the new customers have brought their everyday banking business with them to Nordea, however, the number of leasing and pension fund customers has increased as well.

Nordea Leasing (Nordea Finance Estonia) issued EUR 59 million worth of new leasing and factoring credits in Q1; the largest financing projects were related to the asset classes of passenger cars and agricultural machinery. Nordea Leasing’s customer base continued to grow at a 7% pace y/y, bringing about an EUR 17 million increase in the credit portfolio, which now amounts to EUR 629 million. Year-on year, Nordea Leasing’s credit portfolio has increased by 9%. Compared to last year, operational efficiency gains have continued, contributing to a 17% income and 18% profit growth.

The volume of pension funds managed by Nordea Pensions Estonia AS has increased by 8.3% in Q1, on the background of  an 4.4% average market growth. The market share of Nordea’s pension funds continued its rise and reached 5% in Q1. All Nordea pension funds without exception have generated value increases for customers during Q1. As expected, Nordea Pensions Estonia AS earned moderate profits in Q1 in the amount of EUR 127 000.

CEO Christian Clausen’s comments on the results:
 
 “In the beginning of 2014, activity picked up in our corporate advisory business and remains strong in the savings area, leading to an improvement in net fee and commission income of 13%. As we continue to see low lending demand and low interest rates, total income was largely unchanged compared to the first quarter 2013, although up 3% in local currencies. Operating profit increased by 6%, thanks to improved efficiency and better credit quality and the cost/income ratio decreased to 49% (51%). The fully loaded Basel III Common equity tier 1 capital ratio improved by 70 basis points to 14.6%.
 
In this low-growth environment, we continue to execute on our cost and capital efficiency programmes and capture business opportunities with our customers.”