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Best bank: Hansabank Best equity house: SEB Enskilda Best M&A house: Gild Bankers
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Hansabank – which is set for a name change to Swedbank in the autumn – dominates every sector of the retail and corporate banking market in Estonia and continues to grow rapidly. Total income in the 2007 financial year rose 39% and net profit hit €227 million – an increase of 28% on the previous year.
The challenge for Hansabank – and, indeed, all Baltic banks – is to learn to cope with what will be sharply different economic conditions in the coming year. After years of dramatic growth following entry to the EU in 2004, Estonia, like the other Baltic states, is now suffering the consequences of rocketing domestic consumption fuelled by borrowing. Hansabank’s ratio of non-performing loans (over 60 days overdue) to loan portfolio (12 month-old portfolio) had already risen to 0.58%