Danske Bank today announced a nearly 5 billion kroner net profit in 2012. Pre-tax profits were 8.6 billion kroner.
The 4.7 billion net gain was a 3 billion kroner improvement over 2011.
“These are our best financial results since 2007 and it is definitely a step in the right direction,” Eivind Kolding, Danske Bank's CEO, said in a press release. “The earnings initiatives we have implemented are starting to produce results. The earnings and cost-reduction initiatives, together with improved conditions in the capital markets, have brought about improvements in 2012. We are in full swing with the implementation of our strategy that will ensure we achieve our targets in 2015."
The bank attributed its success in part to improvements in the capital market and an increase in trading income, which totaled 8.9 billion kroner and was a 22 percent increase on the previous year. Last year also saw the bank announce it would cut 3,000 jobs by 2015 in an effort to boost its profits.
The profits represent the first bit of good news of late for Danske Bank, which has come under fire for a rash of recent decisions and has seen its public image plummet.
Its failed 'New Standards' promotional campaign received international condemnation for exploiting imagery from the Occupy Wall Street movement before the bank apologised and removed the image from its marketing campaign.
Last month, Danske Bank announced that it will cost customers as much as 480 kroner a year to hold a standard account, a move that caused angry customers to inundate the bank's Facebook page with complaints.
The bank also decided recently to end traditional in-person banking services at the majority of its branches. The remaining branches to offer face-to-face banking have been plagued by large crowds and long waiting times.
Jyllands-Posten newspaper wrote yesterday that "never before has a Danish company been assessed so poorly by its own customers".
As part of its financial results released today, Danske Bank predicted that net profit for 2013 would reach as high as 10 billion kroner.
