Good customer activity and strong credit quality led to solid results for the first nine months of 2025 Net profit of DKK 16.7 billion

Good customer activity and strong credit quality led to solid results for the first nine months of 2025

Net profit of DKK 16.7 billion

Carsten Egeriis, Chief Executive Officer, comments on the financial results:

“We delivered a solid financial result for the first nine months of 2025 following strong execution on strategic priorities according to our Forward ’28 strategy. Our financial performance was driven by resilient net interest income, continually strong net fee income, effective cost management and low impairments as a result of the strong credit quality of our loan portfolio.

Increased customer activity, a growing corporate customer base and market share gains in the corporate segment drove growth in lending and deposits, strengthening our commercial momentum. Additionally, there was a solid development in assets under management, which further supported the positive performance. The development was backed by significant growth in investments made by Danish personal customers, leading to a further increase in market share in the Danish retail investment market.

Our focus on and investments in customer advisory services and digital solutions continue to support the progress of our Forward ’28 strategy, keeping us firmly on course to meet our full-year guidance.”

Solid financial performance

In the first nine months of the year, we continued to deliver on our strategic ambitions as profitability remained robust, with a return on equity of 12.9%.

Net interest income decreased slightly to DKK 27.2 billion year-on-year, primarily due to the sale of the personal customer business in Norway and a decrease in deposit margins resulting from lower market rates, but was positively impacted by increased lending activity and higher income from interest rate risk management.

Net fee income increased 2%, mainly driven by strong customer activity, while net trading income rose 12%, primarily supported by positive market value adjustments. Net income from insurance business decreased 22%, primarily due to the effect of a strengthening of provisions of DKK 220 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Operating expenses were stable relative to the level in the same period last year, and we are on track to meet our full-year guidance. Loan impairment charges reflect overall strong credit quality, despite the uncertain macroeconomic landscape, and were low in the first nine months of 2025, amounting to DKK 258 million.

Our Asset Management business is seeing strong momentum on the back of a robust market performance and the new strategy implemented last year. Consequently, assets under management reached DKK 954 billion in the first nine months of 2025, marking an all-time high driven by strong net sales, especially in the Private Banking and Institutional segments.

“Our net profit of DKK 16.7 billion was driven by good performance on core income lines and a continued focus on cost management, with a cost/income ratio of 45.6% supported by continually strong credit quality. Profitability remains robust, with a return on equity of 12.9% for the first nine months of 2025. Our underlying business is strong, our asset and liability management is prudent, and our capital and liquidity positions continue to be solid, with significant buffers well above regulatory requirements,” says Cecile Hillary, Chief Financial Officer.

First nine months of 2025 vs first nine months of 2024

Total income of DKK 41.6 billion (DKK 41.8 billion in the first nine months of 2024)

Operating expenses of DKK 19.0 billion (DKK 19.0 billion in the first nine months of 2024)

Loan impairments of DKK 258 million (net reversal of DKK 436 million in the first nine months of 2024)

Net profit of DKK 16.7 billion (DKK 17.6 billion in the first nine months of 2024)

Return on shareholders’ equity of 12.9% (13.4% in the first nine months of 2024)

Total capital ratio of 22.4% and CET1 capital ratio of 18.7% (total capital ratio of 23.0% and CET1 capital ratio of 19.1% in the first nine months of 2024)

Stable growth outlook despite global uncertainty

In terms of the macroeconomic environment, the third quarter saw several noticeable developments.

Firstly, a tariff-induced recession did not materialise, and growth in the Nordic region is expected to be around or above the structural growth rate in the coming period according to Danske Bank Macro Research. In Denmark, the downward revision of historical GDP growth and consumer spending figures suggests that growth for 2025 as a whole is likely to be lower than previously expected. However, the Danish economy continues to demonstrate resilience, with robust public finances and an expected growth rate at the higher end compared with the other European countries.

Secondly, the lower interest rates and rising real incomes are supportive for the economy. This is the case for Denmark and other Nordic countries.

These factors strengthen the outlook for sustained or increasing demand in both domestic and export markets.

“Nordic businesses remain cautiously optimistic. The near-term outlook is relatively good in both domestic and export markets, although there is a lot of uncertainty about the longer-term impact of tariffs, trade tensions and many other global political issues. Lower interest rates and higher real incomes should support the Nordic economies over the coming year, although low consumer confidence continues to curb the strength of the demand recovery,” says Las Olsen, Head of Macro Research.

Personal Customers

Profit before tax amounted to DKK 6,400 million in the first nine months of 2025 (Q1-Q3 2024: DKK 7,475 million). The decrease was mainly due to a decline in net interest income caused by lower market rates. In addition, we saw comparatively lower net fee income, with half of the decrease attributable to positive one-offs recognised in the first half of 2024 and the other half to relatively lower refinancing activity and reduced investment fee income.

Business Customers

In the first nine months of 2025, profit before tax amounted to DKK 7,399 million, an increase of 11% from the same period last year (Q1-Q3 2024: DKK 6,686 million). The increase was driven by loan impairment reversals. Net fee income also increased, although the effect was offset by lower other income from our leasing operations.

Large Corporates & Institutions

Profit before tax increased to DKK 7,079 million (Q1-Q3 2024: DKK 7,029 million), with the increase primarily driven by a rise in net interest income that was, however, partly offset by higher loan impairment charges. Additionally, the return on allocated capital after impairments remained stable at 23.1%.

Danica

Net income at Danica decreased to DKK 1,097 million in the first nine months of 2025, down 22% from the level for the same period in 2024. Both the insurance service result and the net financial result decreased relative to the same period in 2024. The net financial result was affected by the development in the financial markets being less favourable for Danica in 2025 than in 2024, while the insurance service result declined, as an improvement in the result of the health and accident business was offset by higher provisions for legacy life insurance products in run-off in the first quarter of 2025.

Northern Ireland

The financial performance remained positive with profit before tax of DKK 1,606 million in the first nine months of 2025, 7% higher than for the same period last year. In the first nine months of the year, we welcomed over 10,000 new personal current account customers, while in business banking, we have acquired over 1,200 new to bank customers to our Danske Bank Small Business Digital Current Account.

Outlook for 2025

We expect net profit to be in the upper end of the range of DKK 21–23 billion. The outlook is subject to economic conditions.

Danske Bank        

Contact: Helga Heyn, Head of Media Relations, tel.

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