New look for Nord/LB amid strong profits

According to pre-audited figures, the total net income of Nord/LB Bank Polska in 2005 reached zł.12.13 million, almost double its 2004 result. Total assets of the bank reached zł.1.92 billion at the end of December 2005 - 64 percent more than at the end of 2004.

"Good financial results came from the increasing volume of loans granted," said the president of Nord/LB Bank Polska, Jarosław Dąbrowski.

In the first half of this year the bank will change its name to DNB Nord, as the founder of the bank, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, and the largest Norwegian bank, DNB Nord, will create a new banking group. The group will focus its activities in Poland, Denmark, Finland and the Baltic states.

Nord/LB Polska has ambitious plans for 2006. "We intend to close the year with net results totaling approximately zł.18 million ... Our goal is zł.3 billion in total assets by the end of 2006," Dąbrowski said. Nord plans to invest zł.12 million in developing the current product offer, continuing work on an online banking system, as well as opening a seventh regional corporate center.

Although it focuses on corporate banking, Nord/LB has ambitions to enter the SME sector and even retail banking. This will probably happen through acquisitions. "Detailed studies and talks will be held in the forthcoming months," Dąbrowski said, adding that everything depends on the current market situation and the approval of the bank's shareholders.