The beginning of the year for LHV Group was characterised by increased revenues, supported by high business volumes and interest rates.
The consolidated deposits of AS LHV Group increased by EUR 94 million in January. At that, term deposits increased by EUR 75 million, and demand deposits by EUR 19 million. The consolidated loan portfolio increased by EUR 40 million, with retail loans increasing by EUR 9 million and corporate loans by EUR 31 million. The volume of funds managed by LHV decreased by EUR 55 million over the month. In January, 5.7 million payments related to financial intermediary clients were processed.
In January, AS LHV Group earned EUR 13.6 million in consolidated net profit. AS LHV Pank earned EUR 12.5 million, LHV Bank Ltd EUR 3.2 million, and AS LHV Varahaldus EUR 141,000 in net profit. AS LHV Kindlustus generated a net loss of EUR 59,000 in January.
The number of clients of LHV Pank increased by 3,500 in January. As a result of the study conducted by the survey company Dive in December and January, LHV Pank was once again declared the bank with the best service in Estonia.
In January, LHV answered the requests of its clients and introduced the innovative Savings Account solution, in which the client earns 2% interest on the amount of funds in the account, but can immediately withdraw funds from said account, if so desired. As at the end of January, clients had opened over 3,500 of these accounts.
The volume of deposits of LHV Pank increased by EUR 51 million, with EUR 23 million accounting for the increase in deposits of regular clients. The number of home loan applications increased noticeably in January. The volume of the retail loan portfolio increased by EUR 9 million. The volume of Estonian corporate loans increased by EUR 21 million. Credit quality remained at a good level, but proactive discounts were made in the case of some individual clients.
In the United Kingdom, LHV Bank Ltd is still energetically increasing its business volumes, with deposits increasing by EUR 86 million and the loan portfolio by EUR 10 million in January. Under the leadership of the new Director of SME Lending, the broker network is being expanded and a third loan product is on its way to the market. The net profit of the Bank accounts for the one-off income tax revenue of previous years in the amount of EUR 1.8 million.
January was a more complex month for the pension funds of LHV Varahaldus, as the rates of return of the M, L and XL funds were 0.4%, 0.8%, and 0.8%, respectively. Pension fund Indeks went up by 1.4%; pension fund Roheline fell by 9.1%. The volume of pension funds was negatively affected by clients switching funds and also exiting the II pillar, resulting in a decrease in the number of active clients of the II pillar by 2,000 clients. In January, we started accepting applications to increase II pillar contributions; in the first month, clients submitted 2,000 applications.
A total of 13,700 new insurance contracts were concluded in January, and the number of currently valid contracts increased to 231,000 policies. January is usually a month that involves a higher volume of damages - LHV Kindlustus registered 7,200 new loss events. This had a negative effect on the result, but the premiums earned are increasing.
AS LHV Group reports are available at: https://investor.lhv.ee/en/reports.
LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group's key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, LHV Kindlustus, and LHV Bank Limited. The Group employs over 1,080 people. As at the end of January, LHV's banking services are being used by 421,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 121,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 163,000 clients. LHV Bank, a subsidiary of the Group, holds a banking licence in the UK and provides banking services to international financial technology companies, as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Priit Rum
Communication Manager
Phone: +372 502 0786
Email: priit.rum@lhv.ee
