Announcement of first half-year 2018 operating result of SEB Bank Group in Lithuania

At the end of the first half of 2018, as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, net value of the loan and lease portfolio of the SEB Bank Group increased by 12 per cent (up to  EUR 6.2 billion). A deposit portfolio of SEB Bank (including deposits of financial institutions) grew at a similar pace – increased by 10 per cent and totalled EUR 5.6 billion.

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

The development of Lithuanian economy in the first half of the year was more robust than that of the European Union. It was determined by the balanced economic growth based on rising exports and local demand. A rapid increase in average wages and shrinking unemployment has strengthened the household purchasing power and improved expectations. The above trends are demonstrated by the results of SEB Bank, i.e. the corporate financing volume and the deposit portfolio in the first half-year was increasing, borrowings to private individuals, as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, remained at the same level.

New loans issued by SEB Bank to private individuals and corporate customers totalled EUR 1,157 million (EUR 1,116 million yoy), of which the mortgage, consumer loans and other loans to private individuals made up EUR 223 million (EUR 224 million yoy), new loans to corporate loans amounted to EUR 935 million (EUR 892 mmm yoy).

The electronic channel development was our focus in the first half of this year. The bank’s mobile application was renewed and upgraded and we observed a continuous rise in the number of its users. Currently, the application is used by almost 160 thousand of the bank customers, and the number of payment transactions performed by them increased by 15 thousand each month. The bank’s Smart-ID app used to log into the Internet Bank became more popular than mobile signature.

Over the recent half-year, the bank’s remote financial advisory services enabling our customers to get advice on various financial questions from any convenient location, i.e. from their home or office, became more popular. The number of such novelty users within this year, as compared to the previous year, increased three times.

SEB Bank paid great attention to the promotion of entrepreneurship mindset and innovation in Lithuania. This year, SEB opened its Innovation Centre in Vilnius, and fourteen small and medium enterprises operating in Lithuania have completed the first Growth Programme for business. Such free of charge Programme implemented for the first time will be continued, whereas our aim is to become a partner of people with entrepreneurial mindset and innovative companies and to promote a long-term development of our economy.

Key data of SEB Bank Group in Lithuania 

• In the first half of 2018, unaudited net profit earned by SEB Bank amounted to EUR 50.5 million (or 21 per cent higher, as compared to the first half of 2017, when its net profit amounted to EUR 41.7 million), and unaudited net profit earned by the SEB Bank Group totalled EUR 51.6 million (or 29 per cent higher, as compared to the equivalent period of the previous year, when its net profit amounted to EUR 40 million).
• Lithuanian state budget contributions in various taxes paid in the first half of the year 2018 by the SEB Group companies operating in Lithuania amounted to EUR 39.5 million.
• Equity of the SEB Bank Group as of 30 June 2018 totalled EUR 717 (EUR 714 million as of 30 June 2018), i.e. increased by 0.5 per cent.
• Assets of the SEB Bank Group as of 30 June 2018 amounted to EUR 7.4 billion (EUR 7.7 billion as of 30 June 2017), i.e. decreased by 3 per cent as a result of the repayment of a part of debt to the parent company.
• Income of the SEB Bank Group in the first half of the year 2018 totalled EUR 97.3 million (EUR 83.9 million in the first half of 2017), i.e. increased by 16 per cent.
• SEB Bank’s deposit portfolio as of 30 June 2018 stood at EUR 5.6 billion (EUR 5.1 billion as of 30 June 2017), i.e. increased by 10 per cent.
• Net worth of the SEB Bank Group’s credit and lease portfolio as of 30 June 2018 totalled EUR 6.2 billion (EUR 5.6 billion as of 30 June 2017 m), i.e. annual increase of 12 per cent. The quality of loans remained solid.
• At the end of June 2018, the number of active users of the SEB Internet Bank reached nearly 470 thousand, and we had almost 160 thousand users of the SEB mobile application.
• The volume of card payments has increased – in the first half of the year 2018, as compared to the first half of 2017, payments by card increased by 17 per cent.
• At the end of June 2018, SEB Bank had 32 branches in Lithuania, 23 of them were operating as the financial advisory branches, which offer their customers to perform daily cash transactions at the self-service zones.
• Customers of SEB Bank have access to the largest ATM network in Lithuania, which includes ATMs of SEB and Luminor (former DNB), i.e. 510 ATMs, and more than 1,200 points of sale, where they can withdraw cash free of charge when paying by card.