Stock and press releases

DNB ASA normally holds its Annual General Meeting in April each year. Due to the extraordinary situation caused by the spread of the corona virus and the authorities' restrictions on mass gatherings, the Board of Directors of DNB ASA has decided to postpone the general meeting.

In addition, the Board refers to Oslo municipality's ban on gatherings in the regulations relating to the prevention of the spread of the corona virus in the municipality of Oslo, adopted by the Oslo City Council on March 27th, 2020. A new Annual General Meeting will be called within the ordinary deadline stipulated by the Norwegian Public Limited Companies Act, which is June 30th, 2020.

DNB is one of the most solid banks in Europe. Norwegian authorities have expressed an expectation that financial institutions postpone the distribution of dividends until the great uncertainty surrounding the economic development has been reduced. On March 27th, 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a recommendation (ECB / 2020/19) that banks refrain from making dividend distributions and performing share buy-backs until October 1st, 2020 at the earliest. The Board of Directors is committed to support our customers though challenging times.

On this basis, dividends for 2019 will not be considered at the Annual General Meeting, but at an extraordinary General Meeting held no later than December 2020. The same applies to the consideration of the authorisation to the Board of Directors to repurchase shares.

DNB ASA will revert with updated key information on dividends. 

DNB has today decided to reduce interest rates on home mortgages by up to 0.50 percentage points. This is the second time in under two weeks that the bank has lowered its home mortgage rate.

- Due to the extraordinary situation the market is changing very quickly, which makes the price of money for banks unpredictable. This makes it very difficult to set long-term mortgage rates at the moment, says Ingjerd Blekeli Spiten, head of Personal Banking in DNB.

- As Norway's largest bank, DNB must help keep the wheels turning at a time of uncertainty. Mortgages usually have a horizon of 20 to 30 years, and DNB intends to be a safe and predictable partner for our customers, through this crisis and for many years to come. We will continue to be here for customers across the country, and help find solutions for those who find themselves in a difficult situation, she continues.

- A huge number of Norwegians are now applying for interest-only periods, and we want to help them as quickly possible. We therefore ask that customers who have questions about interest rates, wait to contact us until they have received information on how their loans are affected by this interest rate change," says Spiten.

The interest rate change for existing home mortgages comes into effect from 2 May. Our new rates will apply to new mortgages from 24 March. Next week, all customers whose interest rates are adjusted will be given information in the Internet bank or receive a letter by regular mail, explaining how their mortgage is affected.

In light of DNB's scheduled participation at tomorrow's Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference and our ambition to offer all investors and analyst equal treatment, we will make ourselves available for a conference call Tuesday 17 March at 17:00 CET. CFO Ottar Ertzeid and CRO Ida Lerner will be available for a Q&A session (maximum two questions per participant).

To attend the conference call, please register here.

For further information, please contact:

Rune Helland, head of Investor Relations, tel. (+47) 23 26 84 00 / (+47) 977 13 250

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements according to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

"We are lowering the interest rates on loans and overdraft facilities for both new and existing corporate customers with floating interest rates by up to 0.35 percentage points. There is now a great deal of uncertainty in the market.  This means that the banks are still paying a higher price for their loans in the market than they did a few days ago, in spite of the interest rate cut from the central bank," says Harald Serck-Hanssen, head of Corporate Banking in DNB.

"Many of our customers are now facing a difficult situation, and we want to help keep the wheels turning for viable businesses. If necessary, we can make individual assessments, and in addition to providing good advice and helpful tips, we can consider other options such as temporary interest-only periods and short-term credits," says Serck-Hanssen. 

For existing customers, the interest rate adjustments will become effective as of 13 April 2020. Our new prices will apply from Tuesday 17 March. All 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.

 «We are lowering the interest rate on home mortgages by up to 0.35 percentage points for new and existing customers. There is now a great deal of uncertainty in the market. This means that the banks are still paying a higher price for their loans in the market than they did a few days ago, in spite of the interest rate cut from the central bank," says Ingjerd Blekeli Spiten, head of Personal Banking in DNB.

"Our main concern is to offer competitive prices and provide customers across the country with sound advice. We have also today made it easier for customers in a demanding situation to be granted an interest-only period, for example if they are temporarily laid off," she adds.

Green home mortgages will have our best indicative interest rate of 2.54 per cent.

For existing customers, the change will take effect from 1 May 2020. Our new prices will apply from Tuesday 17 March. All customers whose interest rates will change, will be informed in the Internet bank or by mail about how this affects their loan.

DNB ASA has ended its share buy-back programme as we prepare for the upcoming annual general meeting. The programme was announced on 24 October 2019, and subsequently amended by an announcement on 20 November 2019, 12 December 2019 and 6 February 2020. A total of 19.8 million shares were repurchased in the open market, in addition a total of 10.2 million shares will be redeemed from the state of Norway, subject to approval from DNB ASA's annual general meeting in 2020, so that its ownership interest in DNB ASA of 34.00 % will remain unaffected following completion of the buy-back programme. The weighted average purchase/redemption price for the 19.8 million shares is NOK 159.70.

After this, DNB ASA owns a total of 19 758 000 own shares.

The 29 936 364 shares comprised by the share buy-back programme will be cancelled subject to approval by the annual general meeting in 2020, whereby the total number of DNB ASA's registered shares will be reduced by 1.89% from today's 1 580 301 385.

For further information about the share buy-back programme, DNB ASA refers to the Oslo Stock Exchange notification made on 20 October, 20 November, 12 December 2019 and 6 February 2020 (available from www.newsweb.no).