STRONG GROWTH AND EARNINGS IN BANK NORWEGIAN
The Group's comprehensive income in the fourth quarter amounted to NOK 469 million after tax, compared with NOK 434 million in the third quarter.
The earnings development in the quarter is satisfactory and is driven by strong loan growth (adjusted for the sale of non-performing loans in Finland), stable margins, good cost control and stable credit quality. Net interest income increased in the fourth quarter due to strong loan growth and higher margins mainly due to reduced interest rates on deposits in Finland. Net other income is reduced, due to seasonal effects in the previous quarter and net loss on securities. Net provisions were reduced compared with the previous period, despite a slight negative impact from the portfolio sale in Finland.
For the full year 2018 the Group’s comprehensive income totaled NOK 1,800.5 million, compared with NOK 1,607.7 million in the previous year. The increase in the full year comprehensive income in 2018 is mainly driven by strong customer and lending growth, partly outweighed by increased sales expenses and higher credit card activity, as well as provisions negatively affected by new markets, gains on portfolio sales in 2017 as well as sale of NPL’s in Finland in 2018.
The strong customer and loan growth continued in the fourth quarter, with loan growth of NOK 1.5 billion, adjusted for portfolio sales and currency effects, while deposits decreased NOK 0.3 billion. 83 % of net lending growth was originated outside Norway in the quarter, compared to 79 % in the previous quarter.
The bank recruited 43,800 new customers in the fourth quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter, the bank had a customer base of 1,507,600 customers, divided among 1,111,000 credit card customers, 190,600 instalment loan customers and 206,000 deposit customers.
Bank Norwegian started its operations in November 2007 and offers instalment loans, credit cards and deposit accounts to retail customers distributed through the Internet in the Nordic market. Bank Norwegian offers, in cooperation with the airline Norwegian, a combined credit card and reward card. The bank started operations in Sweden in May 2013. In December 2015 the bank launched instalment loans and deposit accounts in Denmark and Finland, while credit cards were launched in June 2016.
Bank Norwegian is a digital bank that offers simple and competitive products to the retail market. The strategy is based on leading digital solutions, synergies with the airline Norwegian, attractive terms for our customers, cost-effective operations and effective risk selection.
For further information, see report for the fourth quarter 2018 and investor presentation for the fourth quarter 2018, which is available at:
https://www.banknorwegian.no/OmOss/InvestorRelations
For any questions please call:
CEO Tine Wollebekk; phone: +47 40805557
CFO Pål Svenkerud; phone: +47 93403904
Head of Communications and Public Affairs Kai-Morten Terning; phone +47 90531898
This information is disclosable under the Norwegian Securities Trading Act section 5-12.
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