Møns Bank is expanding its business rapidly, but that growth is also showing up in its day-to-day operating performance. Lending has increased by 37.8 per cent over the past year, while core operating profit in the first half fell from DKK 33.6 million to DKK 15.7 million.
Despite the decline in core operating profit, the bank has kept profit before tax broadly unchanged. It came in at DKK 35.8 million, compared with DKK 35.6 million in the same period last year.
According to the bank, the development is in line with expectations and reflects, among other things, lower interest rates and the investments being made as part of its current growth strategy.
- The result for the first half is in line with our expectations and represents an annualised return on equity of 9.7 per cent. We are well under way with implementing our growth strategy, and this is reflected in both a high level of activity and satisfactory growth in lending, says CEO Per Sjørup Christiansen, adding:
- At the same time, the result is affected by interest rate developments and the costs we are incurring in connection with opening a new branch and investing in our organisation to support the bank’s growth strategy, says Per Sjørup Christiansen.
At the end of June, Møns Bank had lending of DKK 2.263 billion. The higher level of activity has also brought more employees, with the bank increasing its full-time workforce from 120 in the first half of 2025 to 146 in the same period this year. Part of the expansion is linked to the new branch in Køge, which according to the bank is already serving more than 1,000 new customers.
Maintains outlook
Lower interest rates are also affecting the bank’s earnings. Denmark’s central bank cut its official discount rate four times during the first half of last year, and Møns Bank points to both interest rate developments and competition as factors putting pressure on lending rates. At the same time, costs have risen as a result of, among other things, more employees and investments in the organisation and IT.
The overall first-half result, however, was supported by developments in loan impairments. In the first half, Møns Bank recorded income of DKK 13.2 million from this item, compared with an expense of DKK 8.5 million in the same period last year. The bank explains that customers are generally performing well, allowing impairment provisions on several credit exposures to be reversed.
- Our customers are generally doing well, and we have therefore been able to reverse impairment provisions on several exposures. At the same time, however, we are increasing our management overlays, allowing us to maintain a cautious approach in light of geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, says Per Sjørup Christiansen.
Møns Bank is maintaining its most recently announced expectations for 2026. The bank expects profit before tax of DKK 60-80 million and core operating profit of DKK 35-55 million. Its forecast for the full-year result was raised in April following the expected sale of the data centre provider BEC Financial Technologies.
According to the CEO, the bank remains comfortably within both ranges, even though its growth strategy is currently driving up costs while lower interest rates continue to put pressure on earnings.
