Half-Year Financial Report 2023

SaarLB with increased loan portfolio in the first half of the year and strong municipal customer business, con-tinued intensive focus on Franco-German orientation and positioning.

• Significant growth in customer loan portfolio
• Further increase in operating income
• Earnings before taxes significantly higher than in previous year
• Roll-out of “BankWesen” [Being a Bank] campaign
• Launch of “perspective2025” initiative for the future
• LBS Landesbausparkasse Saar on track despite challenging environment.

Saarbrücken, 22. September 2023: In the first half of the financial year, we again achieved a good overall business result and continued our positive trend despite challenging general circumstances. In addition to the figures, we were also able to make more important marks for the future of the Bank.

Despite modest growth in new business compared to the previous year, we managed to increase our customer loan portfolio to EUR 13.6 billion.

We also increased our operating income, the result of the Bank’s ordinary business activities, to EUR 79.4 million, up EUR 3.9 million in comparison to 2022.

In addition to the pleasing business figures, which are also detailed in our Annual Report, we have initiated a number of other forward-looking themes for our Bank since the beginning of the year. We launched our Franco-German “BankWesen” campaign internally at the beginning of the year and have now extended it externally to strengthen the employer brand and increase brand awareness at all German and French locations and beyond.

“With our new ‘BankWesen’ campaign, it is important for us to sharpen and systematically promote perception within our target groups and to rejuvenate the brand. The first successful results show that we are on the right track,” said Dr Thomas Bretzger, Chairman of the Board of Management.

In addition to the campaign, we also designed and presented our “perspective2025” initiative to our employees in the first half of the year. “With this initiative, we are setting the course for a successful future for SaarLB at an early stage. In four thematic modules, our project teams are working on topics that will make our bank fit for the future,” said the members of SaarLB’s Board of Management.

LBS Landesbausparkasse Saar still expects to achieve its targets in 2023, despite substantial changes in the market environment on account of the rise in interest rates. In particular, the positive development in the number of new home loan and savings contracts is expected to exceed the total for all of 2022 (EUR 25 million) with already more than 1,000 contracts and a volume of around EUR 32.5 million as of 30 June 2023.

Important figures from us at a glance

Operating income

Administrative expenses

Cost-income ratio (CIR)

Result

Common equity tier 1 (CET1 ratio)

Note: Rounding differences are neglected.