(Reuters) -Norway’s largest bank DNB reported bigger-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Tuesday as increased lending volumes helped boost its results.
Its net profit rose 19.9% from a year earlier to 12.16 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.12 billion) in the quarter from July to September. Analysts had expected 10.56 billion crowns on average, a poll compiled by the bank showed.
“There has been a clear shift in customer behaviour through the summer and into the autumn,” CEO Kjerstin Braathen said in a statement, but added that competition in the Norwegian banking sector remained fierce.
Lending volumes increased in all three of DNB’s customer segments in the quarter, it said in the report.
Net interest income, a key metric measuring banks’ income from lending and deposits, rose to 16.13 billion Norwegian crowns in the quarter from 15.72 billion last year. Analysts were expecting 15.90 billion crowns on average.
High interest rates have boosted Nordic banks’ profits over the past two years. Other central banks in the region have already started to ease their monetary policy, with Norway expected to follow next year, dampening lenders’ earnings outlook.
Norway’s central bank policy rates currently stand at a 16-year high of 4.50%.
($1 = 10.9295 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)