Stock and press releases

On 13 September 2018, DNB and Nordea announced an agreement to jointly sell 60 per cent of Luminor to a consortium led by private equity funds managed by Blackstone. As announced, the transaction was subject to customary regulatory approvals. Those approvals have now been received and the deal has now been closed.

As communicated in connection to the announcement of the deal on 13 September 2018, DNB will remain as shareholder in Luminor with a 20 per cent stake.

DNB will realise a positive impact on the Common Equity Tier 1 (“CET1”) ratio of approximately 30bps from closing the transaction. As the transaction formally closed on September 30th, the capital effect will be counted in the third quarter.

Please find link to Luminor’s stock exchange announcement here. 

As a result of recent events and current circumstances related to one specific loan engagement, DNB expects to make a loan loss provision for this in the third quarter of about NOK 1,000m.

As of today, DNB has a new organisational structure and a new Group Management team. The main changes are:

• Corporate Banking is a new business area that will provide more consistent and comprehensive service to corporate customers. The area consists of the former business areas Corporate Banking (‘Bedriftsmarked’) and Large Corporates and International.
• IT development resources are being incorporated into the business areas to strengthen the focus on digital customer channels and ensure good digital customer experiences.
• Group-wide IT services and operations and automation responsibilities are transferred to the new support unit called Technology & Services. This unit will also strengthen the Group’s work with safety, compliance and stable operations.
• People has become a separate support unit, responsible for employee development and efficient job transition management.

DNB’s Group Management team has a 50/50 gender distribution and as of today includes the following members:

Group Chief Executive, CEO: Kjerstin Braathen

Group Finance, CFO: Ottar Ertzeid

Corporate Banking: Harald Serck-Hanssen

Personal Banking: Ingjerd Blekeli Spiten

Wealth Management: Håkon Hansen

Technology & Services: Maria Ervik Løvold

Markets: Alexander Opstad

Group Risk Management: Ida Lerner

Group Compliance: Mirella E. Wassiluk

People: Kari Bech-Moen

Payments & Innovation: Rasmus Figenschou

Communications: Thomas Midteide

On Thursday, Norges Bank raised the key policy rate by 0.25 percentage points. The price that banks pay to borrow money has also gone up in the past months. 

DNB has therefore decided to increase the interest rate on home mortgages by up to 0.25 percentage points.  

"The last few years, the interest rates in Norway have been record low, and an increasing key policy rate from the Norwegian central bank is a sign that the Norwegian economy is still doing well. This has an effect on mortgage interest rates, and that is why they are now being raised. DNB will continue to offer competitive terms on loans," says Ingjerd Blekeli Spiten, head of Personal Banking in DNB. 

"We also want to help young customers enter the housing market by offering them favourable interest rates, while green home mortgages will have our best indicative floating interest rate of 2.89 per cent," she continues.  

The customers whose interest rates will be adjusted, will be given information in the Internet bank or receive a letter by regular mail, explaining how their mortgage will be affected. For these customers, the interest rate adjustments will become effective as of 7 November. 

In accordance with the purpose of the buy-back programmes carried out by DNB ASA between the annual general meetings in 2018 and 2019, the company's annual general meeting held on 30 April 2019 decided to reduce the company's share capital of NOK 240 655 030, from NOK 16 043 668 880 to NOK 15 803 013 850, by deletion or redemption of a total of 24 065 503 shares.

The capital reduction was filed with the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises on 14 May 2019. The following 6 week creditor notice period has now expired, and the capital reduction has been completed in accordance with the resolution from the annual general meeting.

The new share capital of DNB ASA is NOK 15 803 013 850 divided into 1 580 301 385 shares of NOK 10.00 each.

For further information, please contact:
Rune Helland, head of Investor Relations, tel. (+47) 23 26 84 00 / (+47) 977 13 250

Ottar Ertzeid will be the new CFO of DNB, starting 1 September 2019.

Ertzeid is a graduate of BI Norwegian Business School, and has been head of DNB Markets for nearly 18 years. He is also a board member in Oslo Børs, the Norwegian Investor Compensation Scheme and Dextra Artes.

"It is a great advantage for us that we are getting a CFO with such a strong commercial instinct, who already has detailed knowledge of DNB's business operations. Ottar has delivered excellent results over a long period of time, and also has deep insight into all the regulatory processes that apply to the financial services industry," says newly appointed Group Chief Executive, Kjerstin Braathen.

The CFO is currently responsible for DNB’s financial management, accounting and reporting, DNB Legal, Treasury, M&A and Investor Relations.

“I am excited about taking on new challenges in DNB as CFO. This is a discipline and function that I'm passionate about and that I'm looking forward to developing further in DNB," says Ottar Ertzeid.

Alexander Opstad will become acting head of DNB Markets. He is currently head of Equities in DNB Markets. Ottar Ertzeid is replacing Kjerstin Braathen, who will become new CEO of DNB on 1 September.

Photos: https://www.dnbnyheter.no/bildebank/alexander-opstad/