Announcement of Year 2017 Operating Result of SEB bankas Group in Lithuania

31.01.2018 - 11:00

In the year 2017, net value of the loan and lease portfolio of the SEB bankas Group increased by 7 per cent (up to EUR 5.7 billion), and the loan quality remained stable. The loan and lease portfolio growth was determined by an increase in the retail loans resulting from an increase in average wage, and large enterprises also obtained more loans for the investment and working capital purposes. SEB bankas’ deposit portfolio (including deposits of financial institutions) continued to grow at a similar pace, i.e. it rose by 5 per cent and stood at EUR 5.4 billion.

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

The year 2017 was one of the best years for Lithuania’s economy within the entire period after the global financial crisis. All macroeconomic indicators show that Lithuania surpassed pre-crisis level. In previous year, Lithuanian export to almost all main foreign markets grew extremely rapidly. Despite the slowdown in the domestic trade, as compared with the year 2016, it remains rather dynamic. Positive developments in the bank lending to private individuals were observed: within the previous year, the mortgage and consumer loans granted by the bank grew by 8 per cent (EUR 408 million), The total new loans issued by SEB bankas to individuals and corporate customers per year amounted to EUR 2.19 billion, or more by 15 per cent, as compared with the previous year (EUR 1.90 billion), and the value of loans granted to enterprises increased by 17 per cent (up to EUR 1.73 billion). Large enterprises eagerly requested loans for the investment and working capital purposes, however certain behavioural inertia and prudence are still observed. We expect that efforts to speed up the absorption of the EU Funds in the year 2018 will cause the intense vitalisation of private business investments that are of critical importance for the sustainable growth of Lithuania’s economy.

Whereas digital banking services are becoming more and more popular, a lot of attention in the year 2017 will be paid to digitalization. During the year, we have offered a number of new and improved digital services – an updated mobile application that currently is used by more than 120 thousand customers, we have offered our customers to login to the Internet Bank using Smart ID, and we also continue issuance of contactless cards, which simplify the payment process. 99 per cent of money transfers are executed by our customers online independently or using the mobile application, thus we gradually continue the restructuring of our network of branches: 16 out of 32 customer service units operate as the financial advisory units, and cash transactions are performed by customers in special self-services zones, which are available 24 hours a day.

To save our customers time, we paid a lot of attention to our business processes simplification, for instance, our financial advisors offer free of charge video consultations for private customers, who login to e-services using Smart-ID, password generator and mobile signature. We also offer a possibility to fill out a Questionnaire for Private Individuals online, we have simplified the lease and mortgage loan agreements. Our corporate customers have a possibility to sign factoring and lease agreements online with a mobile e-signature.

Key data of SEB bankas Group in Lithuania

In the year 2017, unaudited net profit earned by SEB bankas amounted to EUR 93.7 million (or lower by 1 per cent, as compared with the year 2016, when its profit made up EUR 94,5 million), and unaudited net profit earned by the SEB bankas Group totalled EUR 93.0 million (almost the same amount as in the year 2016, when its profit made up EUR 93.1 million). If extraordinary items and one-off items of the year 2017 are excluded, net profit of the SEB bankas Group would increase by 34 per cent.
Lithuanian state budget contributions in various taxes paid in the year 2017 by the SEB Group companies made up EUR 52.2 million.
Equity of the SEB bankas Group as of 31 December 2017, amounted to EUR 768 million (as of 31 December 2016 – EUR 796 million), i.e. a decrease by 4 per cent resulting from payment of dividend to Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in the beginning of the year.
Assets of the SEB bankas Group as of 31 December 2017 totalled EUR 7.7 billion (as of 31 December 2016 – EUR 7.5 billion), i.e. increased by 3 per cent.
Income of the SEB bankas Group in the year 2017, made up EUR 177.9 million, and in the year 2016 – EUR 181.5 million. If extraordinary gain from sales of shares of VISA Europe Limited is excluded, the year 2016 income would make EUR 160.1 million. If the above-mentioned one-off gain is excluded, income of the SEB bankas Group of the year 2017, as compared with the year 2016, increased by 11 per cent.
SEB bankas’ deposit portfolio as of 31 December 2017, amounted to EUR 5.4 billion (as of 31 December 2016 – EUR 5.2 billion), i.e. increased by 5 per cent.
As of 31 December 2017, net worth of the SEB bankas Group’s credit and lease portfolio totalled EUR 5.7 billion (as of 31 December 2016 – EUR 5.3 billion), i.e. grew by 7 per cent.
Total value of the lease portfolio within the period of one year grew by 25 per cent (up to EUR 615 million), the factoring portfolio went up by 31 per cent (up to EUR 160 million), and consumer loans increased by 8 per cent (up to EUR 64 million).
As at the end of the year 2017, the number of active users of the SEB Internet Bank reached 456 thousand, i.e. increased by 8 thousand, as compared with the data of the previous year. In the year 2017, 648 thousand of customers at least once logged into our Internet Bank, and it shows an increase of 11 thousand, as compared with the year 2016. The number of users of SEB bankas’ mobile app at the end of the year 2017 exceeded 120 thousand.
Number of card payments was growing – the share of card payments in the year 2017, as compared with the year 2016, increased by nearly 3 per cent.
As at the end of the year 2017, SEB bankas had 32 customer service units in Lithuania, 16 of them are financial advisory units where cash transactions are performed in self-service zones.
Customers of SEB bankas may use the largest ATM network in Lithuania connecting the ATMs of SEB and Luminor (the former DNB), i.e. 519 ATMs and more than 1,200 shopping centres, where our customers have a possibility to withdraw cash free of charge when making payments for goods by card.
At the end of the year 2017, SEB in Lithuania had 2648 employees, and 128 new jobs were offered within the period of one year. The greatest number of them – in a Shared Service Centre of the SEB Group operating in Vilnius that provides business support services to the entire SEB Group, i.e. to its subsidiaries and divisions in twenty countries all over the world.
AB SEB bankas Group in Lithuania consists of AB SEB bankas, UAB SEB investicijų valdymas, UAB Venture Capital. Besides, other companies of the SEB Group operate in Lithuania: SEB gyvybės draudimas, Litectus, SEB Shared Service Centre in Vilnius.