LHV is the largest
domestic
capital provider
in Estonia

AS LHV Group announces that its subsidiary, LHV UK Limited, has been granted a banking licence from the United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The company will operate in the UK under the new name, LHV Bank Limited (LHV Bank). LHV Group now comprises two licenced banks, LHV Pank in Estonia and LHV Bank in the UK.

A banking licence enables LHV Bank to start taking deposits in the UK as a separate, authorised and regulated bank. Until now, LHV operated in the UK under the temporary permissions regime as a branch of Estonian-headquartered retail bank AS LHV Pank. In the coming months, LHV will move all UK-related operations from the UK branch of LHV Pank to LHV Bank Limited. Once the transfer is complete, the UK branch of LHV Pank will be deregistered, and LHV Bank will continue to operate as a separate entity.

The decision to pursue a UK banking licence was made in 2021 to better showcase the Banking Services to payment intermediaries' business line's financial performance and value proposition to investors. LHV Bank submitted its application in March 2022 and has secured the licence in just over a year, demonstrating its commitment to regulatory compliance and high standards. In 2022 the Banking Service business line generated €13m profit for LHV Pank.

Operating in the UK since 2018, LHV Bank currently operates in two business lines – Banking Services to payment intermediaries and SME Lending. In the future, LHV Bank plans to expand its offering to a broader audience, including accepting retail deposits later this year and introducing Banking Services to e-commerce businesses. LHV Bank is fully capitalised, and customer deposits are protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a limit of £85,000.

Comments by Madis Toomsalu, CEO of LHV Group and Chairman of LHV Bank:
"Securing a UK banking licence is a landmark event for us, and receiving the licence in just over a year validates the exceptional work of our team and the professional operation we have established. As an ambitious goal, we expect LHV Bank to achieve profitability already by the end of our first year of operations. Our ability to generate additional capital internally positions us strongly for further growth of banking services, and increasing our loan portfolio in the UK banking market."

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 920 people. As of March, LHV's banking services are being used by 391,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 130,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 155,000 clients. LHV Group’s subsidiary, LHV Bank, holds a UK banking licence and operates in two business lines – offering Banking Services for global fintechs and SME Lending solutions for UK businesses.

In Q1 of 2023, AS LHV Group earned 33.1 million euros in net profit, i.e., 8.7 million euros more compared to last quarter (+36%) and 20.7 million euros more compared to yoy (+167%). The return on equity attributable to the shareholders of LHV Group was 30.4% in Q1.

Within the quarter, AS LHV Pank earned 37.3 million euros in net profit. In Q1, AS LHV Varahaldus earned 87,000 euros in net profit. AS LHV Kindlustus generated a net loss of 450,000 euros and LHV UK Limited generated a net loss of 2.5 million euros in the first quarter.

Consolidated income of the Group in Q1 of 2023 was 68.4 million euros, which is 21% more than in the previous quarter. Out of the income, 55.1 million euros was net interest income and 11.9 million euros net fee and commission income. The operating expenses of the consolidation group made 30.6 million euros in Q1, being 14% more compared to Q4 2022.

LHV Group’s consolidated assets made EUR 6.09 billion euros by the end of March. Over the quarter, the asset volume dropped by 45 million euros, i.e., by 1%.
The Group’s consolidated deposits decreased by 34 million euros, to 4.87 billion in Q1 (-1%; -268 million euros in Q4 2022). The reason for the decrease in deposits was a decline in the deposits of financial intermediaries by nearly 98 million euros, while the deposits of regular clients increased by 64 million euros.
Compared to the previous quarter, the consolidated loan portfolio decreased by 59 million euros, to 3.15 billion euros (-2%; +114 million euros in Q4 2022). Corporate loans decreased by 69 million euros and retail loans grew by 10 million euros.
The total volume of funds managed by LHV increased by 119 million euros, to 1.45 billion euros (+9%; +66 million euros in Q4 2022).
The number of processed payments related to financial intermediaries amounted to 9.1 million in Q1 (+25% compared to 7.3 million payments in Q4 2022).

The increased interest income and high quality of the credit portfolio contributed to exceeding the profit target of LHV Group by 11.9 million euros. The financial plan stands.

For LHV, the beginning of the financial year of 2023 was characterised by an increase in interest income, but also by perceptible anxiety in economy. Although the aggregated loan and deposit volume remained on the same level with the previous quarter, the company foresees continuous growth in the future. During the quarter, LHV UK Limited started the issuing of loans in the United Kingdom.

The number of LHV Pank clients increased by 13,100 (+3%) in three months. In a year, the number of bank clients has risen by 53,000 (+16%). Also, the activity of clients is increasing. While we can notice a resurgence in loan demand after the depression at the beginning of the year, repayment of two larger loans still meant a shrinkage on the aggregated portfolio level. The loan portfolio quality is good, the share of overdue loans continues to be low, however we can see some increase in debts of consumer loans.
Over the quarter, the clients’ interest in term deposits grew. Several deposit rate hikes against the background of changes in the interest rate environment contributed to this.
At the beginning of the year, a new investment banking team joined the bank. The number of still investing retail clients is increasing – in January, the number of the popular Growth Account exceeded the 50,000 threshold.

The surveys conducted during the quarter demonstrate the high level of LHV’s service and the offered customer experience. In its banking sector service research, the survey company Dive has named LHV the bank with the best customer service in Estonia. In the net promoter score surveys, conducted by Kantar Emor and Rait Faktum Ariko, LHV achieved the best result among banks. Also, CV-Online declared LHV Pank the Dream Employer of Business Sector in February and the Top Employer in March. Both LHV Tartu as well as Pärnu branch were awarded the European Green Office certification in March.

LHV UK Limited started issuing loans in the United Kingdom and is making preparations for the transfer of business to the new bank. As of today, nearly 50 employees have moved from AS LHV Pank to the subsidiary in the United Kingdom. In March, sharing of the banking services’ business income with LHV UK Limited started as well.

For LHV Varahaldus, Q1 of 2023 was effective against a backdrop of stock market volatility. In addition to the rate of return, the volume of managed II pillar pension funds increased due to the compensation of II pillar contributions by the state in the meantime together with the average rate of return in January. The quarterly rate of return of the largest actively managed LHV pension funds M, L, and XL was 1.5%, 2.0%, and 2.3%, respectively. The unit values of pension funds Pensionifond Indeks and Roheline increased 4.3% and 5.0%, during the quarter.
The profitability of Varahaldus in Q1 was affected by the income tax expense of 0.5 million euros due to dividend payment.

LHV Kindlustus continued to increase business volumes and efficiency by all product lines. The collected premiums increased by 17% in Q1 and outperform the financial plan. As at the end of the quarter, the clients had 220 thousand valid insurance contracts. During the quarter, 13,800 new insurance contracts were concluded and 3735 loss events handled. Customer satisfaction with claims handling remains at a high level.

At the General Meeting, held in March, the Group decided to pay revenue from ownership for the previous financial year. Dividends of 4 cents per share were paid out to the shareholders on 12 April. The capitalisation of LHV Group is at the highest level in history (22.2%). The excellent level of investor relations is evidenced by the award of the best investor relations granted to LHV Group by the Nasdaq Baltic Stock Exchanges.

Comment by Madis Toomsalu, Chairman of the Management Board at LHV Group:
“The rapidly changing business environment requires the banks to adapt. Against the increased income, changes in the main risks and their good management must be borne in mind. For LHV, it was a strong quarter. The rise in interest rates together with a high-quality loan portfolio took the Group’s capitalisation to the highest level in history. The decrease in the loan volumes in Q1 was caused by the conservative view on economy and capital taken at the end of the last year. On the back of capitalisation growth, we expect further growth in lending volumes in both Estonia and the United Kingdom. We are also waiting for the decision of the supervision authority of the United Kingdom on the banking licence. The global news concerning the increased risks of banks in the meantime meant answering additional questions by us and extra time.”

To access the reports of AS LHV Group, please visit the website at https://investor.lhv.ee/en/reports/.

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 920 people. As at the end of March, LHV’s banking services are being used by 391,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 130,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus is protecting a total of 155,000 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.