The net profit of Bigbank in Q1 was 5.8 million euros, loan portfolio grew the most in Estonia
The net profit of Bigbank AS in Q1 was 5.8 million euros, which is 0.6 million more than at the same time last year. The volume of the bank’s loan portfolio increased by 3.6 million euros, i.e. 0.8%. The Group’s loan portfolio grew the most in the Estonian business unit.
“The economic situation and the future outlook of the economy were still good on all of the bank’s home markets in the first quarter of the year,” said the new CEO of Bigbank Martin Länts. “The high levels of GDP growth and employment create a good foundation for the Group’s success. The state of the economy in Estonia is very good, although there have been some changes in various sectors. The rapid increase in the construction sector has been replaced with an increase in industry.”
According to Länts, the Group’s Lithuanian branch was fully transferred to Nest, which is an information system developed by the bank itself, in February. “The core system had already been implemented in Finland in 2017 and in Sweden last year,” he said. “Our strategic goal is to start using the new information system fully at all branches of Bigbank by the start of 2020 – the quick automated processes of this system give us a clear technological advantage over our competitors.”
The volume of the assets of Bigbank amounted to 548.2 million euros as at the end of the quarter and increased by 19.7 million euros, i.e. 3.7%. The loan portfolio of Bigbank is well spread – the average loan balance of the bank amounted to 3,714 euros and 40 of the largest loan receivables comprised 6.1% of the loan portfolio as at the end of Q1.
Bigbank AS, which operates in nine European countries and is based on Estonian capital, appointed a new CEO in the first quarter of the year – the position is held by Martin Länts, a former member of the management board of the Group, as of 15 March. Sven Raba and Mart Veskimägi continue as members of the management board of the bank.
At the end of Q1 the group had 121,000 loan agreements in total, 30,000 of them in Estonia, 40,000 in Latvia, 28,000 in Lithuania, 10,000 in Finland, 10,000 in Sweden and 3,000 in Spain. Customer receivables divided geographically as follows: 28.6% Lithuania, 23.1% Latvia, 19.1% Estonia, 16.0% Finland, 11.2% Sweden and 2% Spain.
Bigbank had 426 employees as at the end of Q1 2019: 234 in Estonia, 82 in Latvia, 76 in Lithuania, 17 in Finland, 10 in Spain and 7 in Sweden.
Bigbank AS (www.bigbank.ee) is an Estonian-owned credit institution which specialises in consumer loans and term deposits, which in addition to its operations in Estonia has subsidiaries in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Spain and which also offers its products as cross-border services in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
For further information please contact:
Martin Länts, CEO of Bigbank AS
E-mail: [email protected]