Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) (SHB_A) Q1 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this presentation of Handelsbanken's result for the first quarter of 2025. The first quarter showed an operating profit of 8.1 billion, which was very stable compared to last quarter last year. The return on equity was 13%. Compared to the same quarter last year, the NII showed resilience. And fee and commissions grew on the back of positive development, again in the savings business. The costs have come down significantly over the year, down 7%. This led to the cost-income ratio improving year-on-year to 40.7 in the quarter. Net credit losses again for the fifth consecutive quarter amounted to net credit loss recoveries. In times of volatile markets and uncertainties about the macro outlook, it's always important to remind about the low funding and liquidity risks in the bank. These are continuously handled in a prudent manner in order to safeguard the bank from potential unknown factors such as market disruptions or a rapid change in the macro environment. And on top of the low credit, funding and liquidity risks, the capital situation is robust, with the CET ratio still above the long-term target range. This, all in all, puts the bank in a solid financial position. On the back of prevailing uncertainties regarding the geopolitical landscape and the macro outlook, the anticipated dividend is calibrated to a level resulting in a CET1 ratio of 18.4%. which means 50 basis points above the long-term target range of 100 to 300 basis points above the regulatory requirement. The anticipated dividend for the first quarter of the year hence amounts to 5 kronor per share, or 157% of the earnings generated in the quarter. Now, if we look closer at the financial summary of the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, ROE amounted, ...