Nordea fall of losses – Dagens Industri

Updated 2016-01-27 09:36. Published 2016-01-27 07:07

Nordea is the first out of the big banks true colors for 2015. Earnings for 2015 at 3.662 billion euros (34 billion), a decrease of 330 million euros (3 billion) compared with 2014. At the same time, it was in line with market expectations, according to a compilation by SME Direkt.

“The payout ratio, capital strength and what the bank communicates about credit quality is satisfactory,” said Mats Anderson, banking analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux.

The biggest concern has been about the bank’s dividend. Bank calmed markets when it announced a dividend of 0.64 euros per share (5.95 per share) compared to EUR 0.62 for 2014. The dividend amounts to a total of SEK 24 billion, representing over 70 per cent of Nordea’s profit for 2015 34 billion.

Meanwhile, the bank Board of Directors approved a new dividend policy, which seems suited to the uncertainty concerning future capital requirements. Under the new policy Nordea aims to maintain a strong capital position in line with the bank’s capital policy. The aim is to achieve an annual increase in the dividend per share. Earlier, Nordea has had the explicit aim to distribute at least 75 percent of the profits.

The important interest income landed at 1.2 billion euros (11.5 billion) for the fourth quarter, which was slightly lower than the third quarter and an 8 percent decline compared to last year. It was also slightly lower than the market had expected. Deposit margins declined due to lower market interest rates. Lending margins were unchanged.

“2015 was a challenging year, with exceptionally low interest rates, geopolitical tensions and market turbulence,” writes the färske CEO Casper von Koskull in its first financial statements.

The Bank’s fee and net commission income of EUR 768 million (SEK 7.1 billion) increased slightly compared with the previous quarter and last year. Assets under management increased to 288 billion euros due to the continued inflow, writes the bank. Higher demand also received brokerage and corporate finance fees to rise compared with the previous quarter. At the same time, net fee and commission income from cards and payments from the previous quarter.

Revenue line net profit of on financial items at fair value, also called trading, almost doubled compared to the third quarter of to land at EUR 436 million (over 4 billion). The largest increase was seen in the risk management of customer transactions.

The bank’s loan losses increased by 27 percent to 142 million euros (1.3 billion), compared with the third quarter. Increased individual and group provisions for portfolios with the greatest exposure to commodity markets explains the increase, writes the bank. Compared to the previous quarter loan losses decreased in Russia, while the increase in agriculture in Denmark, the Baltic countries as well as within the Corporate & amp; Institutional Banking and Shipping. Nordea simultaneously holds on almost unchanged credit quality in the coming quarters, calmed the market.

Bank Restructuring costs to transform Nordea into a fully digital banking landed at € 253 million (2, 4 billion), which was slightly higher than expected.