Inbank earns €5.7 million profit in first half of 2017
Inbank, the financial services company established in April 2015 which evolved from the Cofi financial technology startup established in 2011, earned a profit of €5.7 million in the first six months of this year, marking a 429.4 percent increase on year.
The primary factor behind the extraordinary growth in profit was the one-off profit earned on the sale of Inbank's affiliates earlier this year.
In the second quarter of 2017, Inbank sold its affiliates Krediidipank Finants AS and Coop Finants AS to Eesti Krediidipank, which will begin operating under the Coop Pank brand this fall. Inbank's holding in both companies prior to the transaction was 49 percent. The company earned a one-off profit in the amount of €4.81 million from the transactions, following which Inbank's holding in Eesti Krediidipank is 17.9 percent, the company told Tallinn Stock Exchange.
Inbank CEO Jan Andresoo said that the quarter was characterized by the start of several new partnerships. "We launched international cooperation with the innovative mobile bank N26, via our Raisin deposit platform, in order to offer good depositing opportunities to their clients," he noted.
"In the area of hire purchase, we launched a partnership wtih Samsung Electronics Baltics," he continued. "In the area of loans, we developed our cooperation with several good partners, such as Bauhof, 1A.EE and Hansapost, where we now offer small loans in addition to hire purchase."
Inbank's sales in the first six months of 2017 amounted to €33.4 million, including €28.5 million in Estonia, marking a 35.6 percent increase on year, €3.2 million in Latvia and €1.6 million in Poland.
Business volumes also increased in the Polish branch, which launched operations at the beginning of the year. Andresoo said tha the second quarter was like a test period for the branch, in order to assess the quality of the primary credit decisions and the functioning of channels and IT processes.
"The people in Poland also worked hard to launch the partner-based business, which is the cornerstone of the international strategy of Inbank," he said. "I have to say that we have found very interesting business opportunities thus far, and hope to be able to say more about them in the near future."
Several changes in the staff of Inbank took place in the second quarter as well. Priit Piile, the former technical director of Inbank affiliate Maksekeskus AS, began work as the technology director of Inbank, where he will be responsible for coordinating IT development across the group. Girts Ledins, with a management background in the area of finance, also took over as the new CEO of Inbank's Latvian subsidiary SIA Inbank līzings in May.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS