As at the end of June, Coop Pank had 51,800 clients who use the bank for their daily banking operations, which displays a growth of 30% compared to the same period of last year. Margus Rink, the chairman of the board of Coop Pank, said that the reason of the rapid growth of the bank’s client base lies in the increased general brand recognition of Coop Pank as well as the trend for giving preference to domestic banks, which is becoming more and more popular with clients. “Clients have gladly welcomed a number of our product developments, for example, joining the system of instant payments and the option of making cash deposits and withdrawals in Coop stores. While the bank acquired an average of 30 new clients daily a year ago, now this figure has reached 50 per day,” Rink said.
Over the second quarter, Coop Pank’s loan portfolio grew by 29 million euros. All the financing-related lines of business contributed to the growth: mortgages, consumer loans, business loans and leasing. By the end of the quarter, the bank’s loan portfolio reached 381 million euros, having increased by 33% over one year. The amount of deposits in the bank increased by 10 million euros, and private clients’ deposits were the primary contributors to the growth. By the end of the second quarter, deposits reached 409 million euros, having increased by 11% over one year. During the first half of the year, Coop Pank earned a profit of 2.4 million euros, which is 24% more than the profit of the same period of the previous year. The greatest contributor to profit growth was interest income.
Coop Pank continued developing new products and services in the second quarter. In April, Coop Pank joined the system of instant payments between banks, and 92% of the payments initiated by clients today are instant. At the end of May, Coop Pank started offering interest at the rate of 1% per year on private customers’ account balance, which immediately resulted in the rapid growth in the number of demand deposits. At the end of May, Coop Pank opened the cash withdrawal and depositing service in Coop stores for its private and business clients.
It was also at the end of May that Coop Pank’s Supervisory Board commissioned the Management Board to start preparations for the public listing of the bank’s shares. The process is estimated to be likely to take approximately half a year, and Coop Pank’s shares could be issued publicly in the autumn at the latest. Margus Rink, the chairman of the board of Coop Pank, said that the results of the second quarter of 2019 definitely confirm the ongoing growth trend. “We can see that the current situation on the banking market in Estonia as well as the prospects for the upcoming years are beneficial for the banks which are prepared to be flexible, understand the needs of local clients and implement the appropriate product innovations. This is why we believe that exponential growth through raising capital on the stock exchange is currently possible instead of linear growth,” Rink noted.
Coop Pank, based on Estonian capital, is one of the five universal banks operating in Estonia. Coop Pank aims to put the synergy generated by the interaction of retail business and banking to good use and to bring everyday banking services closer to people’s homes. The main shareholder of the bank is the domestic retail chain Coop Eesti comprising 330 stores.