Good results for Northern Norway’s largest bank
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge, the leading bank in Northern Norway, has presented a pre-tax operating result of 359 million NOK for the first half-year, which a 97 million NOK improvement compared with the first half-year of 2008.
-We have produced a good result for the second quarter and first half of 2009. The Bank’s financial strength is good and its liquidity is satisfactory,” concludes Chief Executive Officer Hans Olav Karde in SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge in a press release.
During the last 12 months, SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge enjoyed strong deposit growth, amounting to 6.9 percent, up from 4.3 percent for the same interim period last year.
-This shows that people save during unsettled economic times. For us, this means that our equity financing has been substantially strengthened, and this is very positive, explains Karde.
At the same time, lending growth amounted to 5.1 percent, against 11 percent for the same interim period last year. The financial crisis with falling economic growth and uncertainty in the housing market has brought about this weak growth in lending.
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge is the leading provider of financial products and services to the retail banking and corporate markets and to the public sector in the region. The Bank has 81 branches in Finnmark, Troms, Nordland and on Svalbard. SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge has its own representative office in Murmansk and is a shareholder in the Russian bank Tavrichesky OJSC, whose head office is located in St. Petersburg.
