SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge received a notice of correction order from the Financial
Supervisory Authority after the stock exchange closed on January 22, 2025. The
Financial Supervisory Authority has reviewed the bank's practice of accounting
for undistributed donations for charitable purposes as other liabilities in the
bank's balance sheet at year-end. In the notice, the Financial Supervisory
Authority states that surplus funds allocated for donations by the
representatives, but not decided to be distributed to recipients by the end of
the year, should be transferred to the donation fund and not accounted for as
other liabilities. This means that such undistributed funds will be included in
the primary capital in the balance sheet at year-end. According to the Financial
Supervisory Authority's assessment, only undistributed donation funds with a
binding donation commitment can be accounted for as other liabilities in the
balance sheet.
The Financial Supervisory Authority further claims that the result of accounting
for donation funds as other liabilities and not as a donation fund is that the
equity capital has received too large a share of the annual result. If
undistributed funds had been allocated to the bank's donation fund, the equity
capital would have had a lower ownership ratio in previous years than what has
been assumed in the distribution of surplus and dividend funds in the bank.
The Financial Supervisory Authority's preliminary assessment is that the bank
has handled donation funds incorrectly when calculating the ownership ratio used
for the distribution of the results for 2022 and 2023, and that the primary
capital has therefore received a lower share of the dividend than a correct
calculation of the ownership ratio would have given. On this basis, the
Financial Supervisory Authority issues the following correction order:
1. The bank must make a renewed calculation of the ownership ratio as it would
have been at the end of 2022 and 2023. In the calculation, undistributed
donation funds that are not tied to a binding donation commitment should be
included in the primary capital.
2. The primary capital's share of the surplus to be allocated in 2022 and 2023
is calculated with the ownership ratio as calculated in point 1.
3. The difference between the actual allocation of the surplus for the financial
years 2022 and 2023 to the primary capital and the calculated allocation
according to point 2 is added to the primary capital before the result for 2024
is allocated in the usual manner.
If the Financial Supervisory Authority's interpretation is followed, the
ownership ratio, which was 46.36% as of December 31, 2022, and December 31,
2023, would need to be adjusted to 45.12% as of December 31, 2022, and 45.07% as
of December 31, 2023. This would have affected the distribution of dividends
between the capital classes for these two years by a total of 54 million kroner,
for both years altogether.
The notice sets a deadline for comments by February 14, 2025. SpareBank 1
Nord-Norge disagrees with the Financial Supervisory Authority's assessments in
the notice and will point out and elaborate on this in the comments. The way
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge has accounted for undistributed donations is, in the
bank's opinion, in accordance with the wording of the Financial Institutions Act
and established practice among savings banks over a long period. The practice
has been approved by auditors for many years, both in SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge and
in other savings banks.
The bank's comments will be sent to the Financial Supervisory Authority by the
deadline, and the bank will inform the market about the matter when presenting
the Q4 accounts on February 13, 2024.
Contacts at SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge:
Hanne Karoline Kræmer, CEO, tel. 414 70 483
Bengt Olsen, CFO, tel. 975 89 560
Stein Vidar Loftås, Group Director of Organization and Business Support, tel.
951 26 576
This information is considered to constitute inside information in accordance
with the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure
requirements in the Securities Trading Act § 5-12. The stock exchange
announcement was published by Noelle Klykken, Administrative Secretary, on
January 23, 2025, at 08:50.
The information, opinions, and forward-looking statements in this announcement
are valid only as of the date of the announcement and may change without notice.
The bank is not obliged to review, update, confirm, or publish changes to
forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that
arise in connection with the content of this announcement.