The FINANCIAL -- Deutsche Postbank AG has generated a consolidated net profit of €112 million after the first nine months of the year following € 111 million in the same period of the previous year.

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"Earnings before taxes remained in negative territory at € 219 million as the positive trend in the third quarter was distorted by the insolvency of the US SME financier CIT announced on November 1. The Bank had already announced in July that the collapse of CIT could lead to losses. At the time it was assumed that these would amount to up to €90 million. Postbank recognized the necessary impairments on CIT financial instruments before the end of the third quarter. Nonetheless, earnings before taxes are consistently improving from quarter to quarter as anticipated. Earnings in the third quarter amounted to € 59 million after € 69 million in the second quarter and € 91 million in the first. In total, the cost of impairment losses on CIT financial instruments amounted to € 61 million. Adjusted for these effects, pre-tax earnings would have been slightly positive in the third quarter," Postbank informs.

 

The Bank also generated value growth in the mid-nine figures in its financial asset portfolio in the current year. In contrast to other banks, however, these increases have not been reported in earnings and instead represent hidden reserves that could be recognized in the income statement.

 

Postbank’s CEO Stefan Jütte anticipates that the trend towards improvement will continue: “We are one of the few banks in Germany and Europe in the fortunate position of reporting balanced levels of customer deposits and customer loans. Our operating strengths in customer business and the ongoing development of the strategic program we have initiated give me every confidence that we will be able to achieve our financial goals.” Once the extraordinary expenses triggered by the crisis are no longer a factor, the Bank intends to achieve a sustainable return on equity of between 13% and 15% in the medium term.

 

Postbank continued to perform well in customer business. Record levels were reported in customer business as of the end of the third quarter of 2009. The Company also significantly increased its market share in savings business again in the third quarter, with sight deposits rising in the same period. Securities business recorded growth again for the first time in a long time, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. The previous quarter’s slight upward trend in mortgage lending also persisted.

 

Further growth in savings volume, checking business stable

The savings volume climbed significantly by 23.1% to €57.6 billion. Including home savings deposits, the figure for the end of the quarter was €73.5 billion, up 16.7% on September 30, 2008. High deposits also continued to be received in savings business in the third quarter. In total, new business in the first nine months of 2009 rose by 36.1% as against the same period of the previous year to €11.3 billion.

 

The number of private checking accounts remained stable at 4.9 million. Sight deposits on these checking accounts rose by 9.4% to €16.3 billion, due partly to relatively low interest levels.

 

Securities business recovering slowly

Cash inflows in securities business amounted to €1.4 billion in the first nine months of 2009. While this figure is still down 24.2% on the previous year's level, the third quarter itself posted a rise of 32.9% as against the previous quarter to €667 million. This marks the first time that figures have risen on the same quarter of the previous year since the escalation of financial market crisis. In line with this, the value of securities and funds held in Postbank custody accounts also rose to €10.7 billion (end of second quarter: €10.1 billion).

 

Market share widened in home savings

In home savings business under the BHW brand, the Postbank Group recorded a decline of 9.1% to €8.0 billion in the home savings volume applied for in the first nine months. The home savings loans granted were up 10.0% year-on-year at a highly satisfactory €1.1 billion. Thus, BHW Bausparkasse outperformed the overall home savings market, which posted a drop of 11.4% to €69.5 billion in the home savings volume applied for as of the end of August. Among other things, this is due to the change in subsidies as of the end of 2008. BHW Bausparkasse’s market share as of 30 September was 11.5%, an increase of 0.2% on the previous year's level.

 

Mortgage lending and installment loan portfolios up

The mortgage lending portfolio of the Postbank Group including home savings loans rose by 1.7% year-on-year to €73.5 billion as of the end of September 2009. This is particularly encouraging as the market as a whole had shrunk by 0.7% to €956.2 billion as of July 2009 (no more recent data available). New business has recovered only slightly over the course of 2009, amounting to €2.2 billion in the third quarter alone. This figure had been €2.1 billion in the first quarter. In total, new business in the first three quarters amounted to €6.5 billion, a decline of 16.7% on the same period of the previous year. Given market conditions, the downturn in new business is in line with expectations.

 

The installment loan portfolio grew by 24.1% to €3.6 billion, while the market as a whole had expanded by only 3.9% as of the end of the first half of 2009.

 

Stable development in corporate and transaction banking

Postbank made good progress in operating business with corporate clients in the first nine months of 2009 in spite of the difficult general conditions. The portfolio of corporate loans rose from €23.1 billion in the previous year to €28.8 billion. The SME loans included in this figure increased by €2.0 billion year-on-year to €6.5 billion. The Bank continued its highly selective policy for new business in the area of commercial real estate financing. The total volume rose slightly from €17.2 billion at the end of the first half of 2009 to €17.6 billion as of 30 September 2009. The investment volume of corporate clients increased by 4.1% between the first six months of 2009 and the end of the third quarter to €17.9 billion.

In the third quarter, Postbank’s subsidiary BCB AG cleared around two billion transactions for Postbank AG and its three other clients. With a total of 5.9 billion transactions, this volume is equal to the level of the previous year.

 

Income statement

Net interest income improved by 1.2% year-on-year in the first nine months to €1,778 million. The palpable drop in interest rates as against the previous year dragged down interest income and interest expenses, though the effect was more moderate for interest income as a result of the good volume development.

 

Net trading income was € 349 million as of September 30, 2009. The Bank’s primary trading income benefited from positive contributions from the swap positions entered into for hedging and banking book controlling purposes as part of balance sheet structure management. However, the remeasurement of embedded derivatives in the structured credit substitution portfolio had a clearly negative effect. The losses amounted to €472 million, €158 million of which related to the third quarter. The increase in the third quarter as against the second was due to the collapse of the US SME lender CIT. This led to losses on embedded derivatives of €56 million. The negative remeasurement effects of embedded derivatives had amounted to €388 million in the same period of the previous year.

 

Net income from investment securities amounted to € 103 million as of September 30, 2009 after € 549 million in the same period of the previous year. This figure improved again as against the previous quarters in the third quarter of 2009 to €15 million (second quarter: € 14 million), driven by the lessening negative effects of the financial market crisis and gains on disposals of fixed-income securities. The figure for the third quarter includes losses of € 5 million due to CIT. The Bank’s net income from investment securities also included impairment on its structured credit substitution portfolio totaling € 49 million (previous year: € 137 million), € 8 million of which related to the third quarter. In addition, it recognized impairment on other fixed-income securities and retail funds and investments still held in the portfolio amounting to € 106 million (previous year: € 143 million). The third quarter accounted for € 30 million of this.

 

Net commission income amounted to €987 million in the first nine months of 2009, down almost 8% on the previous year's level despite ongoing improvements in the second and third quarters. This includes structural declines in income from the sale of postal services and from the sale of new services at our branches and from transaction banking. Net fee and commission income from banking business was unable to offset this development as against the previous year but has improved from quarter to quarter over the course of 2009.

 

Total income amounted to €2,313 million in the first nine months of 2009 after €2,296 million in the same period of the previous year.

 

The allowance for losses on loans and advances amounted to €454 million as of September 30, 2009, an increase of €150 million on the low figure for the previous year. Net additions to the allowance for losses on loans and advances based on corporate client business therefore amounted to around 56 basis points annualized. Compared to other German and European banks, therefore, Postbank kept this ratio at a very moderate level. The development in the allowance for losses on loans and advances is still in line with the Bank’s expectations and reflects the dim state of the economy as a whole and the tense situation on the international real estate markets in particular.

 

Administrative expenses fell slightly by €62 million year-on-year in the first nine months to €2,099 million. In particular, this encouraging development is as a result of the active management of “other administrative expenses”, which declined by €66 million to €946 million. Staff costs rose only slightly as against the figure for the previous year by €14 million to €1,051 million. The Bank intends to further intensify its efforts in cost management in order to counter the economic pressure on the income situation. Its goal is to acquire and process steadily increasing customer volumes while keeping administrative expenses stable over the coming years.

 

Net other income and expenses totaled €21 million, down from €61 million in the first nine months of the previous year.

Earnings before taxes amounted to € 219 million in the first nine months of 2009 after € 108 million in the same period of the previous year.

 

Income taxes benefited from the positive effects of the reversal of deferred taxes, tax-free income and pre-tax losses. The tax position was €332 million after € 2 million in the previous year. The consolidated net profit amounted to €112 million after € 111 million in the previous year.

 

Earnings per share were positive at €0.51 (previous year: € 0.68). It should be noted that the basis of calculation has changed: The average number of shares outstanding is 218.8 million after 164 million in the first nine months of the previous year.

 

The return on equity after taxes was 3.0% after -3.2% in the previous year. The cost/income ratio was 90.7% (94.1% in the first nine months of 2008).

 

Balance sheet

Postbank’s total assets as of September 30, 2009 amounted to €239 billion after €231 billion at the end of the past fiscal year and €237 billion on June 30, 2009.

 

Balance sheet equity rose to €5,278 million as of September 30, 2009 after €5,019 million as of the end of 2008. In addition to the consolidated net profit that climbed to €112 million, the revaluation surplus included in this figure improved by €152 million to € 572 million as a result of the recovery observed on the financial markets since 2008.

 

The Basel II Tier I capital ratio as of September 30, 2009 was 8.0% after 7.4% at the end of 2008 and 8.0 percent as of June 30, 2009.

 

 

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