Luminor Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all delivered solid profitability in the third quarter (Q3), benefiting from positive developments in the Baltic economy. Luminor’s commercial momentum has remained strong.
During the Q3, Luminor continued to focus on transformation processes, acquiring credit rating and entering into a strategic partnership deal with a private equity firm Blackstone.
“The third quarter for Luminor was marked by many significant events and milestones that gained momentum. Blackstone led consortium to acquire 60% majority stake in Luminor through a corporate partnership, first-time deposit rating Baa1 assigned by Moody´s Investor Service, followed by a senior unsecured inaugural bond issuance in the amount of 350 million EUR. The scale of the investment proves that Luminor’s financial profile is strong and that Luminor is an intriguing investment case for both Baltic and international investors. This all comes close to one year after we kicked off, developed a new strategy and set new priorities for the future,” said Erkki Raasuke, Luminor Group CEO.
The reputation of the financial sector in the Baltics has unfortunately been negatively impacted by the recent anti-money laundering findings and accusations.
“It is crucial that we take a clear stance about our responsibilities and future actions, establish full transparency in everything we do and keep a truly high business conduct in focus. It is also our strategic choice that our customer base is around 98% Nordic and Baltic, and we have tightened the measures to strengthen management of compliance risks and support a stronger risk awareness culture,” explained Raasuke.
Luminor Lithuania in Q3: growing deposit portfolio, strengthened customer service
Luminor Lithuanian in Q3 earned profit of 19,8 million EUR. Deposit portfolio grew by 5,6%, lending by – 1,3%.
“Third quarter in Luminor was marked by number of significant events, so we are proud, that we have retained and even raised the trust of our customers – growing deposit numbers show that our proposals were positively evaluated by our customers. Our efforts in strengthening customer service were noticed as well – we have taken steps to improve our counselling forces in remote customer service as well as in branches by establishing competence centers in mortgage and pension counselling”, says Andrius Načajus, Manager of Luminor Lithuania.
