The Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) Summary December 2009 December 2008 Net interest income, SEK million 813 797 Operating profit/loss, SEK million (295) 1,012 Net profit/loss for the period, SEK million (217) 720 Lending, SEK million 173,371 157,792 Capital adequacy ratio, % 11.1 10.0 Primary capital ratio, % 11.1 10.0 Volume of international funding, SEK million 54,102 66,779 Rating, long-term funding Standard & Poor's AAA* AAA Moody's Aaa Aaa * On 16 December 2009, Standard & Poor's placed SCBC and 97 other issuers of covered bonds on CreditWatch. All comparative figures in parentheses pertain to the year-earlier period. Organisation The Swedish Covered Bond Corporation, SCBC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Swedish Housing Finance Corporation, SBAB. SCBC conducts its operations in such a manner that they comply with the requirements specified in the Covered Bonds Act (2003:1223) and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's regulations FFFS 2004:11. SCBC's operations comprise the issue of covered bonds in Swedish and international capital markets. For this purpose, the company uses two funding programmes, the mortgage bond programme in Sweden and the EMTCN programme, primarily in the international market. The operations are conducted by personnel employed by the Parent Company SBAB, which performs services on behalf of SCBC that are governed by an outsourcing agreement. The loans that are not funded by issuing covered bonds are financed by a subordinated loan from the Parent Company SBAB. In the event of SCBC's bankruptcy, liquidation or company restructuring, the subordinated loan and SBAB's claims on SCBC under the outsourcing agreement are subordinate to liabilities to all non-subordinated creditors. SCBC has thus minimised the risk of conflicts between creditors. To hedge currency and interest rate risks that arise as a natural part of operations, SCBC regularly engages in derivative transactions with SBAB and external counterparties. Operating results SCBC reported an operating loss of SEK 295 million (profit: 1,012) for 2009. The loss was primarily due to net income/expense from financial instruments measured at fair value. It resulted mainly from unrealised changes in the market value of derivative instruments and hedged items and costs connected to the repurchase of bonds. SCBC's total operating income declined compared with 2008 to SEK 175 million (1,428). Net interest income amounted to SEK 813 million (797). The increase in net interest income was primarily attributable to a larger loan portfolio. However, declining market interest rates had a dampening impact on the increase in net interest income. Expenses for the year totalled SEK 445 million (399), pertaining primarily to costs resulting from the outsourcing agreement between SCBC and SBAB. Net loan losses increased compared with 2008 and amounted to SEK 25 million (loss: 17). Lending SCBC does not conduct any new lending activities itself; instead it continuously, or when needed, acquires loans from SBAB. The intention of the acquisitions is for these loans to be wholly or partly included in the cover pool that serves as collateral for SCBC's covered bond investors. SCBC's portfolio mainly comprises loans for residential mortgages, with the retail market as the largest segment. The portfolio contains no loans for purely commercial properties. Information regarding SCBC's cover pool, updated on a monthly basis, is presented on the company's website, www.scbc.se <http://www.scbc.se/>. Lending to the public totalled SEK 173,371 million (157,792). The table below shows the distribution of the loan portfolio between the retail and corporate markets. Loan portfolio, SEK million Dec 2009 Dec 2008 Retail market 107,157 105,740 Corporate market 66,214 52,052 Total 173,371 157,792 According to an agreement between SBAB and SCBC, SBAB undertakes to repurchase loans that are more than 30 days in arrears. This is a translation of the Swedish year-end report. The auditor has not signed the translation for approval. Funding SCBC's operations focus primarily on the issue of covered bonds in Swedish and international capital markets. For this purpose, the company uses two funding programmes: the mortgage bond programme in Sweden for the issue of covered bonds and SCBC's EUR 10 billion Euro Medium Term Covered Note Programme. Both programmes received the highest possible long-term ratings of Aaa and AAA from the rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Early during the year, Standard & Poor's announced its intention to change its rating methodology for covered bonds. On 16 December 2009, Standard & Poor's placed SCBC and 97 other issuers of covered bonds on CreditWatch. SCBC's funding takes place predominantly by issuing covered bonds, and, to a certain extent, through repo transactions. In addition, SCBC receives funding in the form of a subordinated loan from SBAB. The value of outstanding covered debt securities in issue totalled SEK 139,963 million* (126,578). Programme utilisation on 31 December 2009 was as follows: Swedish covered bonds SEK 83.9 billion (61.9) and Euro Medium Term Covered Note Programme EUR 5,175 million (5,818). The turmoil that marked financial markets in 2008 continued during the initial part of 2009, when the market for covered bonds encountered fierce competition from substantial issuance volumes of government-guaranteed bank debt. From having been practically closed during most of the first half of 2009, the international market for covered bonds started to function again during the summer. The Swedish covered bond market functioned as a reliable source of funding throughout the year. During the year, the average maturity of the debt portfolio was extended through continuous issuances and repurchases, primarily in the Swedish covered bond market. SCBC joined the Swedish Government's guarantee scheme for medium-term borrowing on 29 June 2009. The company did not utilise this programme, and decided not to extend its participation after 31 October 2009. *Carrying amount including changes in market value. Capital adequacy and risk SCBC reports credit risk mainly in accordance with the Internal Risk-Based (IRB) approach, and reports operational risk and market risk in accordance with the standardised approach. SCBC's capital ratio, taking the transitional regulations into account, amounted to 1.39 (1.25) on 31 December 2009 and both the capital adequacy ratio and the primary capital ratio amounted to 11.1% (10.0). After full implementation of Basel II, without taking into account the transitional regulations, the capital adequacy ratio and primary capital ratio under Pillar 1 amounted to 33.1% (21.8). The figures include earnings for the financial year. There are no ongoing or anticipated material obstacles or legal barriers to a rapid transfer of funds from the capital base other than those that ensue from the terms applying for the subordinated debentures (see Note 6) or from what generally applies pursuant to the Companies Act (2005:551). Since an increase in lending volume naturally entails a greater overall exposure to credit risk, the anticipated loss in the credit risk model has been increased. Interest-rate risk Interest-rate risk arises as a natural feature of SCBC's activities, primarily when the interest-rate structure between the company's deposits and lending (ALM risk) is not fully matched. The main rule is that SCBC's interest-rate risk is hedged directly. Accordingly, SCBC is subject to only a limited interest-rate risk. SCBC does not conduct trading operations. Current events No events of material importance to the assessment of the company's financial position have occurred after the end of the reporting period. Accounting policies SCBC applies statutory IFRS, which means that the year-end report has been prepared in compliance with IFRS subject to the additions and exceptions that ensue from the Swedish Financial Reporting Board's recommendation RFR 2.2, Accounting for Legal Entities, Finansinspektionen's (The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority's) regulations and general guidelines on annual reports in credit institutions and securities companies undertakings (FFFS 2008:25) and the Annual Accounts (Credit Institutions and Securities Companies) Act. This year-end report has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting and the new amendment to IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. In compliance with the amendment to IAS 1, income and expenses are recognised in two statements, an income statement and a statement of comprehensive income. The statement of comprehensive income includes "Other comprehensive income" which comprises income and expenses from transactions recognised directly under shareholders' equity until the closing of the 2008 accounts. SCBC's transactions are solely with the company's shareholders, which are reported in the statement of changes in equity. The accounting policies and calculation methods remain unchanged compared with the 2008 Annual Report, with the exception that SCBC now applies the new standard IFRS 8 Operating Segments, instead of IAS 14 Segment Reporting. According to IFRS 8, a segment is a component of a company that can earn revenues and incur expenses. Discrete financial information must be available and operating profit/loss must be regularly reviewed and monitored by the company's chief operating executive. SCBC's operations are monitored at the comprehensive level, since the company primarily comprises loan receivables subject to a risk level that enables the issuance of covered bonds. As a result, only one operating segment is recognised, comprehensive SCBC, which complies with the previous application of IAS 14. All amounts are stated in millions of Swedish kronor (SEK million). Financial information 2010 SCBC's interim report, annual reports and other financial information is available at scbc.se Annual Report 31 March Annual General Meeting 20 April Interim report January-June 23 July Stockholm den 3 February 2010 Per Tunestam Managing Director [HUG#1380994]
YEAR-END REPORT 1 January - 31 December 2009
| Quelle: AB Sveriges Säkerställda Obligationer