SEB banka: Over the nine months ended September, customer deposits rose by 7 %, whereas the amount of the issued new financing increased by 8 %
In the nine months ended September 2018, SEB banka issued more than 12 thous. loans totalling EUR 668 million, which is by 8 % more than in the same period last year. Of the issued financing, EUR 530 million (79 %) were issued to companies. The financing issued by SEB banka to individuals in the first nine months ended September 2018, totalled EUR 138 million. The performance of SEB Group for the nine months ended September this year was a profit of EUR 38.6 million, which was by 24% higher than in the same period in 2017.
Ieva Tetere, CEO of SEB banka:
“I would like to thank our employees, customers and counterparties for the successful and dynamic third quarter of this year. Economic growth has set a positive background for the use of financial services, and, we must thank entrepreneurs and other entities driving economic growth. The more attention we devote to transforming the intellectual potential into goods and services with export potential, the greater the chances of attracting internationally available funds and investments.
The current economic growth indicators in Latvia are pleasing: in the second quarter of the year, the GDP grew by 4.3%, whereas unemployment declined to 7.7%, inflation was moderate, and exports kept growing. As we have been observing the process of formation of the new government, it is very important that what was started with a goal to supervise the financial sector should be continued; it should also be ensured that foreign counterparties and organizations receive the necessary information about the supervision of Latvian financial sector and the progress of our country in investigating any money laundering attempts.
I am very pleased with what SEB banka has provided to its customers and counterparties in Latvia. In September, we opened our Innovation Centre, which has already welcomed more than 1,000 people who share a clear goal – to keep learning and mastering new things. In September, we also announced our venture capital financing for Baltic financial technology companies. The first applications have started flowing in.
Autumn has been rich in diverse events dedicated to small and medium-sized companies operating in Latvia. SEB banka’s Growth Programme, which provides for investments worth EUR 60,000 to encourage the growth of companies, has brought together, for the second time already, a group of 13 entrepreneurs who, together with their teams, learn about the latest trends of service design, innovations, and finance raising. We have been having meetings with entrepreneurs in Latvian regions aimed to understand their needs for ensuring or consolidating business growth.
We approach the development of digitalisation responsibly so that it would help our customers carry out financial transactions. We have launched a mobile branch – a dedicated team ,which is prepared, at the request of companies, to visit the locations where there are no bank’s branches in the vicinity as well as to help the company’s employees resolve their current personal finance issues, while teaching them to handle them remotely in the future. There have been several additions to the mobile application; this year we are still the only bank that issues State-guaranteed financing to pay for studies.
We are a bank to which Latvia’s as a country’s sustainable development is important; we identify the deficiencies resulting from unethical activities and eliminate them responsibly.”
The financial indicators of SEB Group in Latvia in the nine months ended September 2018 were as follows:
- Revenue of SEB Group in Latvia was EUR 75.9 million, up by 5% compared to the same period in 2017;
- Costs were EUR 35.5 million, i.e., up by 1% compared to the first nine months of 2017;
- Profit before provisions was EUR 40.4 million, up by 9 % compared to the first nine months of 2017;
- The provisions made from January to the end of September were EUR 1.96 million, compared to EUR 898 thous. in the same period last year;
- Operating profit after taxes and provisions was EUR 38.6 million in the first nine months of 2018, up by 24% compared to the relevant period of 2017;
- At 30 September 2018, deposits with SEB banka were EUR 2.53 billion, up by 10 % compared to the end of September of 2017;
- At the end of September 2018, the total loan portfolio was EUR 2.85 billion, i.e., up by 9% than at the end of September of 2017;
- At 30 September 2018, own funds and reserves were EUR 375.4 million;
- At the end of September 2018, total assets were EUR 3.559 billion.
The acknowledgements received during the third quarter of the year in recognition of the bank’s activity in various fields were as follows:
