A.P. MØLLER HOLDING A/S ANNUAL REPORT 2019 · MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DANSKE BANK Danske Bank delivered a financial result with a net profit of DKK 15.1bn (DKK 14.9bn) and a return on shareholders’ equity of 9.6% (9.8%). The financial result was impacted by a number of positive non-recurring items. During the year, Danske Bank announced its ambitions for the period towards 2023.
EXECUTIVE BOARD • Chris Vogelzang (CEO) • Stephan Engels (CFO) • Berit Behring • Carsten Rasch Egeriis • Frans Woelders • Glenn Söderholm • Jacob Aarup-Andersen • Jakob Groot • Phillippe Vollot BOARD OF DIRECTORS • Karsten Dybvad (Chairman) • Carol Sergeant (Vice Chairman) • Jan T. Nielsen (Vice Chairman) • Bente Avnung Landsnes • Christian Sagild • Gerrit Zalm • Lars-Erik Brenøe • Bente Bang • Charlotte Hoffmann • Kirsten Ebbe Brich • Thorbjørn Lundholm Dahl
Danske Bank is a Nordic focused universal bank with four core Nordic markets – Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland – that are addressed via its four customer focused business units: Banking Denmark, Banking Nordic, Corporate and Institutions and Wealth Management. A.P. Møller has been involved in Danske Bank since 1928. At the end of 2019, A.P. Moller Holding held just above 20% of the shares in Danske Bank. A.P. Moller Holding continues to see the importance and value of a leading Nordic bank with a strong presence in Denmark. THE YEAR IN BRIEF In May 2019, Danske Bank announced Chris Vogelzang as its new CEO, to lead the efforts in rebuilding trust in the bank while developing the bank in line with customer expectations and technological developments, ensuring that Danske Bank will remain a leading bank in the Nordic region. 2019 proved to be yet a challenging year with difficult financial markets, interest rates declining further, a slight worsening of the
macroeconomic environment and strong competition in all markets. Furthermore, the industry saw further regulatory and compliance related requirements that impacted the performance. The AML case continued to be a focus point for Danske Bank in 2019, and the bank has embarked on a multi-year enhancement programme, designed to materially upgrade systems and controls related to money laundering and financial crime. The bank has over the past couple of years increased costs by more than DKK 2bn in AML programmes and compliance related activities (including the AML case), and will continue to invest in these activities. Currently, the bank has around 2,800 full time employees working with compliance and AML in order to strengthen its lines of defence and secure progress on digitalisation efforts. Danske Bank remains a fundamentally strong bank, however given recent years’ developments and a number of structural challenges in the banking industry, including negative interest rates, digitalisation, rising customer expectations, increased costs and increased compliance focus, the bank needed to focus its priorities to accommodate these changes.
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