(Bloomberg) -- DNB ASA Chief Executive Officer Kjerstin Braathen, fresh from pulling off a substantial acquisition, said she’s keen to do more.
“We would be happy to look at more opportunities,” especially if they contribute fee income and happen in Norway, Braathen said Wednesday on Bloomberg TV. “We need stronger financial institutions,” she said.
Norway’s largest bank last month bought Sweden-based Carnegie Holding AB, an investment bank and asset manager with 850 employees that’s focused on the Nordic region. The deal will help boost DNB’s fee income, Braathen said in the interview on Wednesday.
Braathen also said Europe in general needs stronger financial institutions to match the much larger US banks.
“Ten years ago the largest European financial institution was the same size as the largest US institution,” she said. “Today, you need ten European institutions to match the largest US financial institution.”
DNB on Tuesday laid out new financial goals as it braces for rate cuts in Norway, which are likely to reduce lending income. As part of the strategy update, the Oslo-based bank effectively doubled the expected growth in fee and commission income over the next few years.
Norway’s central bank will likely start cutting rates in the first half of next year, Braathen said in the interview, in a move that would mark the first decrease in half a decade. While the current interest rate level is appropriate given the country’s economic activity, it makes sense to lower it at some point, she said, following European central banks and the US.
Braathen said the economic outlook for Norway is good, pointing to higher expected consumption and an increase in wages next year.
(Updates with quote in fourth paragraph, detail in final paragraph.)
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