Sparebanken Vest

24 for Spar Banken Vest. If you have any questions, you can send them to this email address. We will answer all the questions that come in during the presentation in questions and answers after our presentation. I will start with the milestone we have reached in establishing Sparerbanken Norge, namely the general assemblies that we carried out on 2nd October, where both general assemblies took a unanimous fusion between Sparerbanken Vest and Sparerbanken Sør. There has been a very positive response, both internally and externally, to the call. And we have also received a lot of positive feedback on the choice of name. The last time Sparbank Invest changed its name, for example, was in 1982. And what we are doing now is choosing a name that will cover both of these great banks in the long term, and that we think we will follow in a good way in the coming years. We have national ambitions for Sparbank Norway. We think that we will use the next 5-10 years to build a good distribution nationally in the big city centres in Norway during a 5-10 year period, either structurally or through organic growth. We know that we will get significant surplus capital over time through this collaboration, and it will be used to develop a strong and attractive national savings bank over time. If we go to our key figures for this quarter, we have a capital loss of 21.4. We are very proud that we perform well, we perform well, we have low losses, we have low costs. And we have a very dedicated group of employees in Sparbank Invest, who do everything to make us the winner in the Norwegian savings sector every single day. And that shows in our figures also in this quarter. We also have a cost percentage in this quarter at 21.4, which we are very pleased with. We have established a good culture in the bank over a very long time, where we are very aware of cost consumption, we are very aware of the choices we make, and we are very good at prioritizing, and that is what lies behind this key figure, 21.4. Hard work, good prioritization, and a strong culture linked to working with performance, and not least being aware of cost consumption over time. We also have a very good starting point for capitalization now. We have a pure core capital coverage of 18, which is well above our minimum goal, and that will come back again. But we are also in a very solid capital situation, as you can see through our numbers when it comes to pure core capital coverage. We are focused on performing well over time. We will achieve the absolute goal of 13%. We will also achieve our relative goal, which is to be among the two best banks in the Norwegian market over time. We are focused on measuring this over a good period of time, of course, and we have this period of time that we have used often, namely from 2012 and up to and with the last quarter. The last quarter, we have talked to all banks in Q2 2024, and our average return in this period has been 13.4%, and we are very pleased with that, and that also shows that over time we have reached our relative goal of being among the two best banks in performance in the Norwegian banking market. I am especially proud of our team this quarter, because we, together with the bank and Bulder, topped Epsi K-Ringen in 2024, both on the personal and business market. The business market division in Sparbanket Vest has the most satisfied business customers in Norway, and in the personal market, it is Bulda for the second year that topped the list when it comes to having the most satisfied customers in the personal market in Norway. That pays very well for further development of the bank, and that is decisive in terms of being able to deliver good and attractive withdrawals and so on in Sparbanket Vest. Having a good position with customers cannot be overrated. That was a little introduction, then I will share the rest of the presentation in these four points. A little about the key to our banking business, a little about our loan book, a little about Bulder, which is in very good development, and finally I will say a little about the status of the merger between Sør og Vest and the establishment of Sparbanket Norge. If we look at our key figures, the third quarter is a very good quarter in terms of one-capital deposits, also if we look at the last quarter in context. 21.4 is among the best quarters we have delivered so far when it comes to underlying banking operations. We have very little one-time effects in these figures. We have a result per one-capital deposit of 4.45 kroner. As I said, a very good solidity, well over our target of 16.05. And then we have a recorded value per one capital certificate of 84.90 EUR per exit of Q3. Our growth is good. We have a growth on a 12-month basis in the personal market at 11.5%. And then we have a very good development in the business market division, which has a foreign growth in the last 12 months at 12%. We are very pleased with them. They are working well right now, both in Bulder in the business market division and not least in the personal market division. In the personal market division, we have a foreign growth of 4.3% in the last 12 months, which is also slightly above the market growth and I am very pleased with the job, especially the division has done in the last to get a good and profitable growth in the personal market division also outside of Bulder. Let's take a look at the business market division, which has had an outlay growth of 12% in the last 12 months. We have had a fine growth in recent years. Here you can see the volume of outlay from year to year and even in the third quarter of 2024. And then you can also see to the right in this picture that we have had a continuous, if you look at the long lines, downward trend when it comes to the number of failed and lost engagement in the business market. It is not difficult to get growth in the business market if you are not aware of the risks, but to get a good growth with a reasonable margin and a reasonable risk is the art of the business market, and I would like to praise our business market division, which over time has gotten a good growth, good development in risk and a reasonable margin development. And as I said, I think that especially on the business market, we have a fantastic opportunity to grow along the coast. And I think we strengthen ourselves even more as a business market bank with the collaboration with Sør Bank. Sør and Vest, two beautiful cultures that I am quite sure of, will become an even more attractive business market bank for the whole coast in connection with the collaboration and the new bank. If we look at the investment growth, the investment growth on personal customers is good. We have an investment growth of 15.2% in the last 12 months. Bull also has a very good development when it comes to investment growth. And then the investment growth on the operating market is a little more influenced by what the alternative financing cost is for large individual investments. And lower interest rates mean that market financing in a period now has been more attractive than large investments from From a price point of view, this will vary slightly more on the business market than it does on the personal market when it comes to development in revenue and revenue growth. If we look at the net income, the net income has had a fine development in the last few quarters. The absolute level when it comes to net income has been relatively flat in the last five quarters, as you can see on the right. But we have a good underlying and fine development in net income, which among other things is a good growth, both in personal and business markets and in bulls, as we just showed. The margin picture is a significant change. The margin picture is perhaps also a little strange these days. We have significant interest margins. We may have a slightly lower foreign margin. This applies to banks in general. The interest margin over time will probably not be on the personal market as much as the foreign margin. On the foreign margin, we will also cover the bank's losses. But the situation as it is now, there is a significant pressure on the foreign margin in the personal market, and we see that we manage to take out good margins on the investment side, and that is well illustrated by this picture. On the business market, it is a tough competition. We work hard to keep our margins, and as you can see in this picture, the margins on the business market are a little lower, if you look at the long picture from 2021. Let's look at our costs. We are very concerned about low cost income. We believe it is the foundation for being competitive with customers over time. It is a good cost development. We are on a new deal with Tieto Evri. It has lifted our IT costs, so we have been working very hard with IT costs in the first quarter of the year. Now we see that we are beginning to get good control of that. We have taken down API calls against large machines in Tieto Evri. We have made many measures to ensure that we get good control over cost development. in 2024, and we have been very successful with that. Here you can see the cost this year in 2023 versus the cost this year in 2024. And there you can see that we have a very moderate development from 1,334,000,000 to 1,338,000,000 kroner this year in 2024. Good developments also in Braga and Frende and our most important companies. If we reach the budget in the last quarter in Frende for Frende Holding, Frende Liv og Frende Skade, then we will achieve a one-capital discount of 16.9, which we are pleased with. We still believe that there is potential to be able to raise the one-capital discount further, but this is much better than we had last year. We also have a nice growth in the foreign exchange. Collected stock development for life and damage insurance is up almost 10% in the last 12 months, so that's good. Brage Finans also has a usable one-capital withdrawal. We are a bit below the target there. and on target when it comes to one-capital spending in Prague. We have had, among other things, one drop this year, which does not reflect the results, which we believe is an atypical drop, so we are quite confident that we have a robust and good foreign portfolio. in Brage Finance and a reasonable risk in that company. I am quite sure that the company will have great joy in the years to come. I am also very happy that Rogoland Sparbank just came in as a distributor and owner in Brage. Einar Smegler Vest is also in a very good development. It is working very well. We have reduced costs some of the last and we have got in place and we have a lot of exciting investors also on the way in, which is signed in this quarter. So Einar Smegler Vest is in a very good development and while the activity in the housing market in Q3 was about 10% higher when it comes to revenues compared to the same quarter last year. We see that Einar Smegla Vest has increased by 14% in this quarter, more than in the corresponding period last year. We also see an increase in the market share in our primary area, from 12.4% to 12.9%, as you can see in this picture. We have a drift margin, which is at the level of what is set over time in this quarter, which is 13%, and we have a result in this quarter of 10 million, is also very well in line with the goal. We will invest more in savings and placement, which I think will be important for the bank in the future and for other income, and that is why we have also made a purchase, which we will come to in the next slide. But the maintenance value that our customers have in the fund through Sparbank Invest is almost 26 billion kroner, and we have, especially in the last four quarters, had a very positive development in net and new design in alternative savings products through the bank. We are sure that Borea will be able to strengthen Sparmanken Vest, Sparmanken Norge, and not least the foreign group. We have purchased 70% of Borea Asset Management, which is approved by Finanstilsynet and has now been implemented. Sparmanken Norge owns roughly 90% of the 70% owned by Borea Asset Management. We are very much in the process of developing establish new exciting fund products in Borea on the retail side, and have, among other things, made good investments in Borea, which started in October 2024. So we are working very hard to develop Borea into a full-fledged company that in a very good way can serve the customers in the foreign banks in a good way, and again strengthen other income for all foreign banks through this purchase. If I sum up a little of what I have been through on the key figures, then it is such that we have a very fine development in the result for tax from the third quarter of last year to the third quarter of this year. We are up 181 million on interest netto. We have our provision revenues up 29 million, connected to business, and then especially Braga-Frende is up 62 million for our part. We have a financial result that is up 147 million, where 66 million is We have 1 million lower costs than we had in the third quarter last year, and our losses are 8 million lower than they were in the same period last year. We have 12 million in losses, which is very low in this quarter. We had 20 million last year. We are in a period, I think all banks, where we see unusually low losses, if we look at what has been average losses historically. So a very good period, I think we are in now as banks, both when it comes to net interest, but also when it comes to the picture of losses. This can quickly change a little in the coming time. That was a little bit about the banking industry, a little bit about the key to the banking industry, and then I'm going to go over to our foreign book and the risk picture, which is implicit in an investment in Sparbanket Vest. We have a very large share of our loans on the pension market. 76% of our loans are on the pension market, with low risk. A good part of this, of course, is in the pension market division in the bank, but Bulder has also become a significant share of our loans. 21% of our loans are now through the Bulder concept, which is in the plan, or actually a little ahead of the plan, both when it comes to growth and margin. and profitability, but we have a very robust foreign book. We also have a well-diversified business market portfolio, as you can see illustrated in the middle of this picture. And business customers are now at 24% of foreign savings. Despite a very positive development, the personal market growth is also so good that the business market share has not increased significantly, despite a 12-month growth of 12% on the business market. Over time, we have been very concerned about what has been our primary market area, which is Vestland, Rogaland and Mølleromsdal. Bulder is primarily what has happened outside of these three provinces. For our part, this will change now. We want to have a completely different geography in connection with the collapse of Sør and the new bank, but so far we have primarily loaned out through our primary market, and that has been a conscious strategy. We have thought that this has been the strategy that has been important to keep the losses low, and we have also over time thought that we have a great potential in this market area, and then we will see a change in strategy in connection with the new bank in this area. I would like to add that Bulder has not lost a single krona on housing loans. We have also been very conservative in what we have done so far on a national basis. We also think that the housing portfolio in Sparbanken Vest has a very low loan rate. 92.4% is below 60% LTV. That has to be said to be conservative. We are in a geography that has a lower fall height, we think, based on what housing price development we have seen from 2014 to today. It has been much higher in Oslo and Viken than it has been in our private market area, which you see in the middle of this picture. We have a very good risk profile in the personal market portfolio, which is the dominant portfolio in the outlook for Sparbanket Vest with 76%. If we look at our risk profile, there are two key indicators for housing loans. If we look at the risk for housing loans over 90 days, you see that this is at a low level. If we had taken an even longer history, we would have seen that this is at a very low level historically. And if you look at debt-free loans over 60% LTV, it is often where the bank has a high risk related to a slightly more unclear picture when it comes to security, then it also sees that we are at a very low level despite the fact that we have seen a higher interest rate level than what we may have seen back in time. when it comes to a longer history. So a very positive development in the long run, both when it comes to payment fraud and when it comes to tax-free housing loans with higher LTV than 60%. If we look at the business market and the personal market together, you can see that we have a fine development in the misuse and default loan, step 3. The lowest it has been for many quarters. We work very well with our default portfolio. We work very well with credit management when it comes to new engagements. So we have a low level of unpaid and unpaid loans, which I will show you a picture of later, also relative to our main competitors. Also within the framework of the framework we have, we also have a high degree of investment. Over time, we have used the small subjective understanding that is related to being somewhat conservative when it comes to investments. For example, the operating market is now at 92% of misplaced and lost loans, which is a very good cover. So we should be good for still low losses, both when it comes to our risk profile and our turnover. We should also be good for a reasonable loss level in the coming quarters. Here we see a picture of the largest banks in Norway when it comes to collected miscellaneous loans. You can see that we are a little lower from Q2 to Q3. We are also quite low in terms of collectable banks when it comes to collected miscellaneous loans. This underbuilds what I just mentioned, that we experience that we have a conservative and very robust foreign book in Sparbanket mest. That was a bit about our outlook, a bit about the risk profile in Sparbanket Vest. I will continue with Bull there. Bulder is in a good development. Bulder is a concept that depends on certain triggers in the market to get exit growth. If there is something in the market, we often get a rise in exit in Bulder. And there have been many of them in the past, and I think we will also be a trigger in the real estate market in the future, which means that we get a boost in exit growth. What we have seen historically is that Expenditure growth in the bull goes a bit in the boulders, depending on what happens in the market. And now we are in a very positive development, we think. There is a large portfolio that is also going to switch banks with the two large business banks. It is a typical trigger that we see generate significant growth in the bull. Now we are at 59.1 billion in outlay per 30th of October. We have set a target of 30 billion at the beginning of this year, and that will come back to what we are quite sure we will reach. Bulder has a very attractive reward rate of 42%, low risk. The knowledge of Bulder is impressive high, 62% of the Norwegian population know Bulder. We have passed 100,000 customers and we have lifted the supply chain well in Bulder. It is clear that when the supply margin is as good as it is now and the foreign market is a little more under pressure, Then it is also important to work with infrastructure in Bulder, and there we are on a very good level, we think, in relation to targeted development when it comes to infrastructure. Now we are almost at 25% infrastructure in Bulder, which is very good and well ahead of the goals and the ambitions we have set for infrastructure. So that's very good. The foreign growth for Bulder in the last 12 months, per quarter to quarter, is 15.5 billion kroner, which is a significant foreign growth. We have guided on that we had a very hard ambition to reach 60 billion out of the Bulldog concept at the beginning of 2024. We believe that we may now end up with a total of 62 billion. If we see the same development in November and December, as we have seen in October, as we have laid the groundwork for the striped line here, then we will reach a good part of our goal of 60 billion. We are very proud of that, and we are also very proud of the group that every day in Bulder works to be the cornerstone of the Norwegian banking market, and to be a truly innovative bank, and a bank concept that sets the track and reaches its goals. And we have done that, we think, when we round 2024. We are quite confident that we will at least manage 60 billion, with the starting point we have now, and how quickly we can control 62, which will be well over a very ambitious goal for 2024 for Bulder. We have guided on two KPIs in the market when it comes to bulls. One is the top line growth and foreign growth, where we reach the target at the beginning of 2024. And then we have guided this year that we will have a marginal profitability on bull concept at between 7 and 9 percent. In this quarter, there is a marginal one-capital discount on Bulder between 12 and 13, so we are above both in terms of profitability and growth goals for Bulder. And with that in mind, we have also adjusted a little to our prices in the third quarter to be in parity with our main competitors in the Bulder concept, and we also believe that this will contribute to very good growth in the coming quarters. Bulldar has a fantastic starting point through the market position that has been built over a very short period of time. Bulldar is for the second year in a row at the top of Epsi. It is extremely impressive. I would like to shout out to Sparbank Sør who is also at the top level when it comes to fresh customers. We look forward to getting even more familiar with Sparbank Sør and learning from them when it comes to how they work towards the market. and work on the goals to ensure customer satisfaction. But Bull is on an impressive level, and also well ahead of the other three when it comes to customer satisfaction. And that pays very well for further growth. Another key question in market research that is important to predict market position, and not least predict future growth, is this question we ask bankers about privately. Make sure you are going to change bank on real estate. Which providers would be relevant? This is the age group of 30 to 60 years who have answered these questions. We draw this in the running. And if you look at the score in August 2023, we were very proud that we are on the top five list when it comes to preference for customers who may change housing loans. And then we had a share of 17.9% in August 2023. Then we really thought that we We thought we had the potential to fall, but when we look at this in the third quarter of 2024, we actually see that Bulder in the Norwegian banking markets now scores best in all of Norway when it comes to exactly that question. If you were to change banks today and move the housing loan to another bank, which bank would you then vote for? Then it is Bulder who comes first in front of DNB and a combined banking group. It is an incredibly good score, incredibly impressive. We do not have the largest market budgets in Bulder, but we have managed to build a market position on record time, which has very high preferences in the Norwegian banking market. This ensures a very good development for Bulder as well. And not least ensures that we will have an ambition of 380 billion in foreign loans by the beginning of 2026, which is the level that S-Banken had when they were bought up by DNB. I think this is the level of ambition, but we are in the lead. We not only work well with customer satisfaction in Bulder, we also work very well with the development of the app. I would now claim that it is a full-fledged good bank connection for a bank customer when it comes to total bank offers. We have also made two important changes in Bulder recently. We have launched BOLILÅN ung and we have also increased the loan rate in Bulder to 85%. We feel safe with our credit models, we feel safe with the digital lending cycle, and dare to increase the risk a little in relation to going a little higher on LTV when it comes to the Bulda concept. We see that with as tight LTV as we have had, we cannot get in as many young customers as we would like. We think we have a greater potential now by increasing the loan rate to 85%, as we have done in the last quarter. And then we have said when we have launched Bulda, and we have also guided on it later, that one thing is the marginal profitability of Bulda, it will be the basis for the self-capital transfer after 2026. But we have also said that we believe that having two such competent environments in Sparbank Invest, makes us get a play-off effect also on the bank, when it comes to being on the front when it comes to digital solutions. Over a very long time now, we have been working to develop what may be Norway's rawest home loan flow, both for customers and employees. The last one is quite important for us, especially in Sparbanket Vest, which is to have an effective FF loan journey for the bank's financial advisor. Incredibly important to be able to keep the costs down, but not least to be good and have a good pressure on the market. In this quarter, we have received the first demos of this housing solution, and I must say that I think the entire board of directors and subordinates are greatly impressed by the work they have done, and I am quite sure that with this work, we lay the foundation for having a great attractiveness towards advisors who are very interested, and sit on as little as possible typing and as much as possible dialogue with the customer, and I am quite sure that this will also help the citizens to have a good and effective operation further. What we do here at Pensionmarkeret, we will also be looking forward to when we start a corresponding project at Bedriftsmarkeret, where we will look at developing one of the best working flows on credit when it comes to Bedriftsmarkeret in Sbarbanken Vest and later Sbarbanken Norge. That was a bit about Gubb Bulder, who delivers on top of a goal when it comes to profitability and growth right now. Finally, a bit about Sparbank Norge, which is a fantastic, inspiring and exciting project for all of us in Sparbank Sør and Sparbank Vest. We have started very well, we are working very well, we are starting with integration projects that we are going to come to in the future, and we are quite sure that this bank will set positive tracks for itself in a Sparbank landscape in great change right now. And to remind you of the size of this bank, this will be Norway's largest savings bank. We have a total of 260,000 customers. We have a significant number of great years and people who work in both of these banks, and two very good banks today. And then we get gross and loan, this is per second quarter. We have not yet seen the Sparbanken Sør's second quarter figures, but I guess gross and loan when we round two and three is a lot higher than 429 billion as well. But this is the loan figure for the banks collected at the beginning of the second quarter. I would like to say that when we launched this meeting, we said that we think this is a perfect match. I am even more convinced that this is a perfect match, after we have begun to work even more integrated and closely connected to integration. The banks have a common team. We are both one-capital proof banks. We both have the same ownership. We have 60% community ownership. We have 40% one-capital proof ownership. We have customer exchange, we have a joint product company that we are very proud of, and we have an office network that fills each other perfectly. We have no overlap in the office structure, no offices that are flooded, which is part of this combination. We have a fantastic starting point for building a national position based on the business foundation we have today. And I think it's incredibly inspiring to feel the energy in both banks, the desire to build this new big bank, in the hope that customers, employees, society and the owner of one capital in the next chapter for both of these banks. The bank will become the largest savings bank in Norway. We will work hard, because this is a position we also have in the future. We do not think that size is decisive for this bank. In consideration of growth and profitability, we will continue the good trend that these banks have today, namely to prioritize healthy and good growth, and prioritize profitability for growth at any price. So even though we are big and talk a little about size, we are very concerned that we will have a healthy and good development. We will build stone by stone. We will not become national overnight. We will have a long-term perspective on this. As I said, these banks have recently changed their name. It's been a long time. And we will put on a dress through this fusion that will be worn in the long run. And then we will use good time and have a reasonable strategy to fulfill the role that the bank will fulfill in a five to ten year perspective. Community ownership will be very central in this bank. We have 60% community ownership in the bank, and if you look at the equity certificates, the same slot for this bank, then 20% of the equity certificates are owned by the foundation, which has a strong community engagement. We also have a significant foreign ownership after a downturn in both of these banks recently. 28% foreign ownership. And then we have a very heavy investment company that is very concerned about the performance of the bank and very curious about the development of the equity proof in both banks. In total, 75% of the employees are owners of the equity proof in the combined bank. We think that's very good for the bank. We also think it's good for our investors that we have employees. who have also invested a little in parallel with the investors in this bank. I think that is positive. We have guided on significant synergies, both on capital and cost side. It is too early to start guiding on this, but I just want to say that we are very dedicated to the synergy goals we have communicated. We have said that we will implement cost synergies between 350 and 400 million a year. from 2027-2028. That is a very ambitious goal. We still believe that we will be able to achieve that. We will be a cost-effective bank, also in the combined bank. We see significant capital synergies through this combination by getting IRB on the entire portfolio that the two banks have collected, and then comes the effect of Basel IV. for Sør, which is a significant amount, estimated at 2.1 billion. So there will be a significant over-capitalization over time through this bank, which we will use both for health insurance exchanges, but not least to grow and develop a strong and attractive national savings bank, which will set tracks for itself in the Norwegian savings bank market in the long term. And then we get significant integration costs, transaction and integration costs. Many analysts have asked us about that. Our best estimate where we are now is 250 to 300 million. We will of course do everything we can to make this as low as possible, but this is one of the largest The collapse in the Norwegian banking market is very, very long. It costs the same as two banks on the IT side. Our estimate is between 250 and 300 million in transaction and integration costs in this collapse. Yes, I have covered this through a little of what I have said already. We took early and applied for the rights to the Sparbank of Norway name, the trademark of Sparbank of Norway. We had a good process in the two banks, up to the choice of this name. And as I have said several times now, we believe this is a completely correct name choice for us. We are going to choose a name that will be chosen in 10, 20 and 30 years. It's been a long time since we changed the name last. We are quite sure that from a long-term perspective, this is the name that will be chosen best, and that we will best correspond with the vision and ambition of the combined bank between Sparbank Sør and Sparbank Vest. So I would like to repeat a little of what we said about the launch. We also believe that this will be a very important catalyst. The new bank will be a decisive catalyst in foreign cooperation. We are very dedicated to further develop foreign cooperation. We are very interested in creating an alternative to very close alliance cooperation in the foreign group. We believe that this cemented a little of The uncertainty that has been linked to banks out of foreign cooperation, and we are quite confident that we have a very good, robust and attractive cooperation now through a large bank that can be the driver of this cooperation, but also 16 banks in LBS cooperation, which we cooperate very well with, and which is offensive, and which is concerned with building an alternative with low costs and not least the most possible competence in their own bank. We see that these banks that are in foreign cooperation today grow better than the average in the savings sector. We also see that the average cost of income for banks in foreign cooperation is significantly lower than in alternative cooperation groups. We are going to develop this further, and we are confident that this is how it will be in the future. We are going to work together on what the banks think we need to solve in common, and the banks and LBS are going to do what they can to solve the problems at the lowest possible level and the most possible in their own bank. Sparbank Norway will be a strong and long-term owner of the product companies, which gives the necessary predictability in terms of further developing these companies. And as I have been saying, we have almost 10% growth in premium stock in the last 12 months, which is a good indication that we are also a very good development as distributors for joint product companies. Looking at the timetable for the meeting, we are very happy again that there was unanimous support in both general assemblies. I think that is a good indication of the enthusiasm that is in both banks. I am very happy for such a clear mandate in the establishment of Sparbank for Sparbank Norway. We did not spend much time from the 2nd of October before we sent the applications to Finanstilsynet. It took two days. We have bad time. We want to get started quickly with the new bank, so the applications are sent. We have a very ambitious goal of a legal fusion on May 1st. We will see if we can do it, but the goal is to do what we can to see if we can get a legal fusion on May 1st. If it turns out that there is a critical line that makes us not be able to do it, then the backup is on September 1st. But our goal is to do what we can to see if we can get a legal fusion on May 1st. is to try to get a legal version on May 1, 2025. So that's what we're working on. And then there's a bigger challenge when it comes to the time we get to the technical version. We hope for 26, but it could be 27. We're working closely right now with Tietje and Evry to see what's possible, and we're also working in parallel with that. very intensively to find out together with the exchange group where the exchange group should be in the long term when it comes to core suppliers. Should we be at STC or should we be at Tieto? We have started the workflow on that work and have a very open approach to where we should be. We think we should now take a long-term choice And that must be with a supplier that is technological where we want the supplier to be, or has a very specific plan to get there, and at a cost level that is at least in parity with the other two cooperation groups in the Norwegian savings landscape. We are not there today. We will not be able to accept that in the long term. Therefore, we have invested significant resources to work with exactly that problem forward towards the summer of next year, and we will at least have quite clear guidance on where we think we will be in the first quarter of next year. The integration program is well underway. We have had a kick-off with great enthusiasm. We have significant work flows in this program. We are trying to solve as much as possible with internal forces. We also have a few consultants in, but we believe that as far as possible we will solve this integration project with the project with our own forces to ensure, among other things, the enthusiasm and that as much as possible of the competence building that we do in this period will return to the new bank. Very well in progress, and they work incredibly well by the involved. One clear priority we have in this work is to frame the line as well as possible. So it is first and foremost people in stable support in Sbarbanken Sør and Sbarbanken Vest who work on this, just so as not to lose momentum in the development of these two banks, legal fusion. So I feel quite confident that we have succeeded so far, and we know that there is a lot of hard work until May 1st, possibly September 1st next year, where we are one bank, but we do everything we can not to lose momentum in the market and become too focused on the inside during this period. We know there is a risk, and I think we have got started discussing, relating and prioritizing in line with exactly that problem. We have also begun to have cross-party participation between the banks in leadership meetings. Working with leadership is unproblematic in a time when, even though we are two banks, we talk a lot about what culture we want to build. We have had the team from Sparbank Sør with us on our annual horizon meeting, with great enthusiasm. Very fun. There we had, among other things, as you can see in the aftermath with us, Harald Norvik. who shared their perspectives on what is important to succeed with large fusions. We are well in the process of discussing that, and I am quite confident that we will succeed with this combination and create an even stronger and even better bank on the back of these two banks, which are two great banks today. What we want to achieve with Sparbank Norway is far on the way to this. We will build a new bank with low complexity, as far as possible. We will be a bank with low risk in foreign portfolios, where both Sparbank Sør and Sparbank Vest are good today. We will build a new and proud performance culture and have two strong headquarters in Kristiansand and Bergen, which will be the drivers of this new bank. We will build a new and strong trademark on Sparbank i Norge name, but based on Sparbank values. We are very dedicated in relation to to build on the Sparebank Fundamentals, whether it is in terms of equity, gift business, social ownership, customer exchange and so on, is a very important milestone in the construction of the new bank as well, as it has been for Sparebanken Vest and Sparebanken Sør today. We will get significant gifts and high customer exchange. We will set a track, especially the gift business, we see both in Sørlandet and in Vestlandet, is incredibly important in a municipality of Norway that struggles to get We see that we are becoming more and more important, an important catalyst to get the sports market going, and other big things, at a time when this is quickly the solution to the tight municipal budget. So we believe that the role we have today in Sbarbanken Sør and Sbarbanken Vest will only become even more important for the coast. and eventually for larger parts of the country, through what we can mean as a large savings bank that has a significant community ownership, where a large part of the surplus in a well-run bank comes to the benefit of society and customers. And then we will be among the best in one capital cost also in Ny Bank. We are quite confident that we have it in sum to perform among the best in the market also in Sammelslott Bank afterwards. If we look at the history of Sbarbanken Vest in the capital market, we have a very long history now, where we have delivered on or over the one-capital allocation target. Throughout this period from 2013 to the fourth quarter of the year, or the third quarter of the year, we have had a very good one-capital allocation. In this period, we have increased our one-capital allocation target from 11% to 13%, as you know. But we have had a very good track record now in delivering on target or above target on one capital transfer. And we have a clear ambition to do that in Ny Bank afterwards, and also in the last quarter as an own bank in Sparbank Invest. That was it. I was going to go through, then we are ready for questions and answers. And then I would like Frank and Brede to come up here, and then we will take the questions that came in during the presentation, or possibly come in while we are up here.

We have some questions we are going to ask now. We start with Buldor. Buldor growth is calmer in the quarter than it has been in previous quarters. Are you worried about the growth and realism in reaching 83 million?

No, we will manage that. As I said in the presentation, the bull growth will be a trigger. In a period where the interest level is flat, you do not have the interest triggers that we have had in the past in relation to growth, but then new things come into the market. We also see that they are working very well with an even better tuning of our credit process. We have expanded with a slightly higher LTV. We have launched Bolidlån Ung. All these things I am sure we will be very happy with. It has been a nice quarter. We have also used little on market leadership in this quarter. We have saved some money for what is coming now, where we think there is a trigger in the market in the next few weeks. So this we have a very conscious relationship to. And if you look at the foreign growth in Bulldog, it has not been flat development at all. and that will continue to be the case for a conceptual builder. So we are reasonably confident that we will be able to do that, but of course we cannot guarantee anything, and then the next milestone will be to ensure the level we have guided at the start of 2025.

Then it is extremely good that we are able to get the investment growth we are expecting, because we had a target of about 20% at the start of 2025. 2024, now we are at 25, and that is more of a contribution to the interest rate concept as well, so that's fantastic.

If we had more normal interest and foreign margin in the Norwegian banking market, then the interest rate would have been completely different. We don't think that over a very long time it will be so that we have significantly higher interest rates than we have foreign margin, so I think that in many parameters, the future has Bulder ahead of it.

Very good. Dry knot in the pocket. That's good. Over to the costs. Frank, earlier this year, Sparbank Invest has guided at 5-7% cost growth in 2024. But now this has changed to 5%. How safe are you on reaching this? We are actually very safe on that.

Now 3 quarters have been good, or actually 10 months have been good, 12 months. So we have even more security in relation to that estimate. So we feel very safe on that we will have an extra cost within the frame of 5% for us as a whole. If you look at the annual cost per third quarter, they are about 4 million over, and in the third quarter they are actually below what they were in the third quarter last year. If we adjust for the 10 million we have had in costs related to joint loans in the south, it is actually even better.

I would also like to point out that I would not have thought that we would achieve 5% this year, because we have increased a lot in the customer front. We have invested a lot in new year's work in Sundaland and Sognefjord. We have strength and are ready to hire new people, which of course has not shown up on the cost side yet, but in Møre Romsdal. But the point is that we have employed a number of new people in Rogaland, so we have strengthened ourselves in the market. And when we manage to get 5% of that growth, it is slightly below what we had dared to hope for.

Transaction and integration costs of 250 to 300 million. How much of this will be taken over the results and in what year?

I think the master budget will come in 2025 or 2026. We are trying to do it as soon as possible. We have an ambition to be able to take over our own capital as much as possible. That is a dialogue we have with the reviewers. That is perhaps limited to what we are able to take into account. Most probably it will come down to the results. But we still have a good process and a good dialogue with the reviewers. But the most part of the cost will probably come in 2025 and partly in 2026. Correct.

Yes, Jan-Erik. In previous quarters we have said that the PM growth, if you look away from Bulder, we have not been completely satisfied with. And it looks like you have turned a little for you. How do you assess the outlook further here?

No, I think the outlook is very good now. We have worked incredibly well in the personal market division over time, and it's loosening up a bit now. And I have promised the capital market before, and we have done so, and said that we will not prioritize growth in terms of profitability. We have stooped a bit over that level from time to time in the market. I think I have experienced success and I am very good at working with culture. We are working with tools now, I think that will have an effect in the future. So I am very pleased that we are over the market growth also for the personal market division and there we are working with very offensive approaches and see the effects of that now. So I am quite confident that we will have a good growth further. And I am also very pleased that Einar Smegla Vest has delivered so well and takes market share and that also helps us to have a good PM growth further. I feel that we have a good starting point now to have a good PM growth as well.

That's good, that's good. Frank, a question about the capital cover, which is essentially above the solidity goal. Will there be a division of more than 50% of the agreement in 2024?

We have been guided by the exchange policy, which is 50%. As you say, the capital cover is almost 2% over our goal. I think we will have to say that we will have to let it fall around 50% and it is of course very dependent on what the result is both for us, but also not least in the market in the south, because the issuance will depend on the exchange rate between the banks. So it will be exciting to see. It is a bit too early to say if it will be more than 50%, but I think it will be around 50%.

Yes, thank you for that. That was the last question that came in. And with that we thank you from Mediaset in Bergen and wish you all a good day.