Banks in Finland earn €1.4b operating profit in Q2

The net income from financial operations of credit institutions engaged in banking in Finland amounted to EUR 1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2021 and operating profit was EUR 1.4 billion, according to Statistics Finland.

Credit institutions engaged in banking in Finland accumulated EUR 1.5 billion in interest income in the second quarter of 2021, which was around EUR 0.1 billion less than in the corresponding quarter in the year before.

Interest expenses, in turn, amounted to EUR 0.3 billion in the second quarter, which was around EUR 0.2 billion less than one year earlier.

The net income from financial operations calculated as the difference between interest income and expenses was EUR 1.2 billion. The net income from financial operations grew by 3.7 per cent from the respective quarter of the year before, or by around EUR 43 million.

Administrative expenses are a significant expense item for banks operating in Finland. In the second quarter, banks had EUR 1.4 billion in administrative expenses, which was around EUR 0.2 billion more than in the corresponding quarter of the year before. Wages and salaries made up EUR 0.8 billion or 60.8 per cent of administrative expenses.

The operating profit, or profit from continuing operations before taxes, was EUR 1.4 billion in the second quarter of 2021. The operating profit increased by EUR 0.9 billion from the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

The aggregate value of the balance sheets of banks was EUR 783 billion at the end of the second quarter. The value of the balance sheets grew by EUR 33 billion, or by around 4.4 per cent from the previous year’s corresponding quarter.

The combined equity amounted to EUR 48 billion, which was EUR 3.7 billion more than one year earlier. On average, the share of equity in the aggregate of the balance sheets for all banks operating in Finland grew by 0.2 percentage points to around 6.1 per cent.