- New business down year-on-year but above target
- Strong municipal government business in Germany and France
- Earnings before taxes significantly higher than in previous year
- Significant increase in capital ratios
- Continuation of the successful “BankWesen” campaign
- Future initiative “perspective2025” makes the bank fit for the future
- LBS triples the number of home loan and savings contracts
Saarbrücken, 8 April 2024: Although the past financial year was challenging in both Germany and France, as a Franco-German bank we can look back on a very solid result and thus continue the positive trend of recent years.
In terms of new business, we were below the record level of the previous year, but above our targets in 2023. We recorded significant growth in this area, particularly in municipal business in both Germany and France. In Germany, municipal financing accounted for 37 % of total new German business (EUR 1.6 billion) and thus the highest share.
We also increased our operating income, the result of the Bank’s ordinary business activities, to EUR 168.0 million, up EUR 14.5 million in comparison to 2023.
Administrative expenses were reduced slightly to EUR 88.2 million in 2023. This resulted in a significant improvement in the Cost Income Ratio (CIR) to 52.5 % (previous year: 58.2 %).
Despite a difficult environment, particularly in commercial real estate, loan loss provisions remained small and broadly in line with the long-term average.
Our pre-tax profit reached EUR 56.9 million in 2023, with a return on equity of 7.2 % (previous year: 6.1 %), a significant increase of EUR 47.1 million year-on-year or over 20 % compared to 2022.
In terms of capital ratios, we have achieved another significant improvement overall. Our common equity tier 1 capital ratio, which is the ratio of common equity tier 1 capital to total risk, increased from 13.4 % in 2022 to 14.0 % in 2023, remaining at a competitive level and within our defined target range.
In addition to the business figures, which are also detailed in the Annual Report published on our website, we initiated a number of other forward-looking themes for our Bank over the past year.
With the successful launch of our Franco-German “BankWesen” campaign in January last year, we were able to strengthen our employer brand and improve our brand awareness. Building on this, in a second phase we will increasingly promote our campaign externally and also involve our locations in France in order to present a holistic picture of SaarLB.
“The success of our ‘BankWesen’ campaign has shown us that we are on the right track with SaarLB. We have been able to build on this good foundation and pursue the other campaign targets in a focused way”, said Dr Thomas Bretzger, Chairman of the Board of Management.
Our “perspective2025” initiative, launched in 2023, has already successfully completed its first sub-modules and will be continued by the respective teams in 2024. “With our internal initiative, we set the course for a successful future of SaarLB at the beginning of last year. The individual thematic modules enable us to work on projects in a focused manner and make the bank fit for the future”, said the members of SaarLB’s Board of Management.
LBS Landesbausparkasse Saar can look back on a challenging anniversary year in 2023. Even 75 years after the foundation of the Saar home loan savings bank, the attractiveness of saving for building purposes remains unbroken. Due to the significant rise in market interest rates, savers benefited in particular from low-interest loans from maturing building saving contracts. In the year under review, building loans totalling EUR 75 million were disbursed – almost three times the amount in the previous year. New loan approvals increased by 12 % to EUR 162 million.
Important figures from us at a glance
Operating income
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | Change | |
| EUR 153,5 Mio. | EUR 168,0 Mio. | EUR +14,5 Mio. | +9,4% |
Administrative expenses
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | Change | |
| EUR 89,2 Mio. | EUR 88,2 Mio. | EUR -1,0 Mio. | -1,1% |
Cost-Income-Ratio (CIR)
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | Change |
| 58,2 %. | 52,5 % | -5,7 %-Punkte |
Result
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | Change | ||
| Before taxes | EUR 47,1 Mio. | EUR 56,9 Mio. | EUR +9,8 Mio. | +20,8% |
| After taxes | EUR 32,1 Mio. | EUR 32,0 Mio. | EUR -0,1 Mio. | -0,3% |
Common equity tier 1 (CET1 ratio)
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | Change |
| 13,4 % | 14,0 % | +0,6 %-percentage points |
Note: Rounding differences are neglected.
