January 2023 began with good results for LHV Group – with revenues slightly ahead of the new financial plan and the quality of the credit portfolio maintained.

LHV Group’s consolidated loan portfolio decreased by EUR 5 million over the month. Retail loans grew by EUR 3 million, although the volume of business loans decreased by nearly EUR 7 million. Consolidated deposits grew by EUR 57 million in January, while deposits belonging to financial intermediaries increased by EUR 16 million. The volume of funds managed by LHV increased by EUR 103 million over the month. In January, 2.9 million in payments related to financial intermediary clients were processed.

In January, AS LHV Group earned EUR 10.7 million in consolidated net profit. AS LHV Pank earned EUR 12.3 million in net profit, of which EUR 2.1 million was from servicing clients related to the United Kingdom branch. The net profit of AS LHV Varahaldus was EUR 430,000. AS LHV Kindlustus earned a net profit in January of EUR 66 thousand and LHV UK Limited earned a net profit of EUR 1.6 million.

The number of the bank’s clients continued to grow in January, increasing by 4800, with the number of settlement clients growing by 1500. While overall loan demand has declined, activity involving Home Loan applications was at a good level in January, and the quality of the portfolio was unchanged. The increase in interest income is driving bank profitability, while at the same time deposits are also increasingly priced at higher interest rates. The interest rate on LHV’s one-year fixed-term deposit already exceeds that of the European Central Bank’s interest rate.

On the UK business side, the emphasis remains on applying for a credit institution licence, but also on getting started with lending – the first corporate lending projects have reached the Credit Committee. A credit line of £ 100 million was opened between LHV UK Limited and LHV Pank, and an agreement was signed to service joint financial intermediary customers beginning in March.

Pension funds enjoyed a good start to the year as the markets recovered. Thanks to a good rate of return, LHV Varahaldus earned financial income. The rate of return for bigger funds M, L and XL was 1.4%, 1.9%, and 2.5%, respectively. Among the passive funds, the Pension Fond Indeks had a rate of return of 5.4%, while LHV Pensionifond Roheline was the best performer with a return of 10.8%. At the beginning of January, slightly more than 1,900 LHV pension fund clients left Pillar II, which is the lowest exit rate of any pension fund exit window to date.

The number of LHV Kindlustus clients grew to 154,000 thanks to the addition of new health insurance contracts. Net earned premiums increased by 31% compared to the previous month. Efficiency is improving and the satisfaction level with claims handling remains high.

The newly unveiled financial plan for the current year holds.

AS LHV Group’s reports are available at: https://investor.lhv.ee/aruanded.

LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group’s key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, and LHV Kindlustus. The Group’s companies employ more than 900 people. As of January, LHV’s banking services are being used by 383,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 129,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 154,000 clients. LHV’s UK branch offers banking infrastructure to 200 international financial services companies, via which LHV’s payment services reach clients around the world.

 

Priit Rum
Communication Manager
Phone: +372 502 0786
Email: priit.rum@lhv.ee 

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• LHV Group 2023-01-EN