Baltic bank Luminor has reported its Q3 20223 financial figures – net profit was €65.1mn, up by 62.75% year on year, which, it said, was driven principally by an improvement in net interest income as reference interest rates increased after years of extraordinary low rates and limited profitability, BNS, a Baltic newswire, reported on November 2.
Latvia has yet to introduce a similar windfall tax on banks, but discussions are ongoing about doing so and the substantial profit level would tend to make such a move more likely.
Compared to the third quarter of 2022 the bank’s cost-to-income ratio improved by 9.5 percentage points to 48.6% and it generated an increased annualised return on equity of 14.9%. At quarter end the bank’s liquidity coverage ratio was 176.2% and its common equity was at 23.9%.
Luminor Bank CEO Peter Bosek said: “In the third quarter, we continued to invest for the future, building our capacity and capabilities. We focused on improving our customer experience while raising our efficiency and strengthened further our capital positions. This will ensure we are well set-up to navigate the prevailing macroeconomic environment. The long-term outlook for the Baltic region is strong, and we look forward to the year ahead with confidence,” BNS reported.
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