OSLO: The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (NoFSA) has now granted the necessary permits to carry out the merger between SpareBank 1 BV and Sparebanken Telemark in accordance with a decision made by the banks’ Supervisory Board on 25 March 2021.

Finanstilsynet has set Pillar 2 requirements for the merged bank on core tier 1 capital adequacy of at least 2.3 percentage points in addition to the minimum and buffer requirements.

This means that SpareBank 1 Sørøst-Norge’s requirement for core tier 1 capital adequacy, including current buffer requirements, will be 13.3 per cent, the requirement for tier 1 capital adequacy is 14.8 per cent and the requirement for total capital adequacy is 16.8 per cent. The requirement shall apply at a consolidated level, i.e. including proportionate consolidation of enterprises in cooperating group.

The current Pillar 2 requirements are for SpareBank 1 BV 1.9 percentage points (consolidated) and for Sparebanken Telemark 2.2 percentage points (parent bank).

The board of the merged bank will as soon as possible start work on a new capital requirement assessment (ICAAP) which will be sent to the NoFSA within twelve months after the merger has been completed as required by NOFSA.

The merger is contemplated to be finalised on 1 June 2021.

On 30 November 2020, the boards of SpareBank 1 BV and Sparebanken Telemark have signed a letter of intent with a view to a merger to form SpareBank 1 Sørøst-Norge.

The letter of intent, which sets out the main principles for a possible merger, was unanimously approved by the boards of both banks.

SpareBank 1 BV and Sparebanken Telemark are currently two strong and locally anchored savings banks with operations focused on Vestfold, Telemark and Nedre Buskerud.

The region has some 750,000 inhabitants and a well-diversified business base. Both banks have issued equity capital certificates listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and both are members of the SpareBank 1 alliance.