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Íslandsbanki

Icelandic bank offering retail, corporate, and investment banking solutions

About the Company

With roots tracing back to 1875, Íslandsbanki is an Icelandic bank deeply engrained in the economy of Iceland. In its formative years, Íslandsbanki became Iceland’s first public limited company and played an integral role in developing Iceland’s fishing industry. After merging off our banks in 1990, the Union Bank, Industrial Bank, Fisheries Bank of Iceland, and theCommerce Bank, Íslandsbanki was officially established, becoming the largest private sector bank in Iceland [1]. Later, in 2000, the merger of Íslandsbanki and the Icelandic InvestmentBank allowed for Íslandsbanki to embark on a path towards international growth and rapidexpansion. Íslandsbanki expanded internationally and opened offices abroad to meet its expansion abroad. In 2006, Íslandsbanki changed its name to Glitnir. Glitnir collapsed by late-2008 in the wake of the global financial crisis. In February of 2009, Glitnir officially changed its name back to the original Íslandsbanki. After several years of full state ownership, theGovernment of Iceland completed the sale of its stake in Íslandsbanki in May 2025 when it sold the remaining 45.2% stake in a successful secondary fully marketed offering. The Government of Iceland had previously sold its stake in two steps, first through an IPO in 2021 and then later in an ABB in March of 2022.

 

Íslandsbanki is a leading domestic customer-centric universal bank that offers its customers a diverse range of financial products and services, through its three key business units,Personal Banking, Business Banking and Corporate & Investment Banking, as well as its strategic subsidiaries, in particular Iceland Funds. The Bank aims to respond to its customers’ ever-growing needs and to provide innovative and helpful solutions through the Bank’s services and products across its industries. With 733 employees at year-end 2024, Íslandsbanki operates twelve branches throughout the country and services its customers through both its branch network and its extensive and modern digital channels. Íslandsbanki's purpose is to empower its customers to be a force for good in Icelandic society and create value for the future in a sustainable way – for its customers, shareholders, and employees, and for society as a whole.The key elements of (1) differentiated proposition and (2) digital first service, with (3) data insights will be the driving force behind development of Íslandsbanki’s digital products and services. The bank’s digital platform, combined with its relatively lean branch network, supports demand for increased efficiency and customer willingness to use digital channels. As one ofIceland’s leading banks, Íslandsbanki has developed a strong reputation in its service of individuals, corporations, and professional investors. Íslandsbanki’s strong position has been affirmed by international rating agencies and Íslandsbanki is currently rated BBB+/A-2 with a positive outlook by S&P Global and has been assigned and A3 issuer rating with a stable outlook by Moody’s Ratings.

 

Íslandsbanki’s purpose is to empower its customers to be a force for good in society and create value for the future in a sustainable way—for its customers, shareholders, and employees, and for society as a whole. Furthermore, the Bank places particular emphasis on the financial health of its customers and will make every effort to strengthen it, through both educational efforts and product offerings. The bank’s strategy is a balanced mix of (i) building a sustained competitive advantage and (ii) increasing efficiency. All decisions are guided by three core values: progressive thinking, collaboration, and professionalism. To support its strategic priorities, Íslandsbanki has defined four strategic themes, service and customer experience, a data-driven bank, profitable growth and the best team. The strategic themes focus on creating value for the future by providing outstanding service.

 

Between 2017 and 2019, Íslandsbanki underwent a digital transformation when it successfully replaced its core banking system, including an effective migration of an old legacy system to a global standardized core banking system for payments and deposits in 2018.Following that, it also replaced its lending platform with a new domestically written system, after which its entire core banking platform was replaced and modernized. Looking to the future, Íslandsbanki has introduced a variety of digital solutions to stay ahead of market changes with its state-of-the-art platform and renewed technological infrastructure enabling digital leadership.Significant investments have been made in recent years to strengthen further the data foundations of Íslandsbanki with the aim of being in the forefront of data excellence and AI innovation. Íslandsbanki has launched a new data driven sales and behavioral tracking platform, enabling it to leverage customer insights to improve service to customers. The transformation of data architecture and usage to drive business decisions continues to be an ongoing focus for Íslandsbanki as the domestic market has one of the highest digital banking activity in Europe. Íslandsbanki has through recent years demonstrated significant income growth from corebanking operations and has been able to generate steady and varied income through its diversified business model while operational efficiency has been delivered through cost control measures. Founded as a “new bank” in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis with a clean capital structure and no legacy balance sheet items, Íslandsbanki has a clean and robust balance sheet supported by strong loan and risk culture. The bank has a strong diversified loan portfolio with mortgages to households representing the single largest loan category, healthy distribution amongst sectors and customer types. The loan portfolio is highly collateralized and low LTVs. Íslandsbanki has an ingrained culture of service and risk mindfulness and the bank’s seasoned management team is complemented by a highly skilled and dedicated workforce, forming a cornerstone of its operational resilience and strategic success. Embedded within this culture is a pervasive mindfulness of risk, which permeates all levels of the organization—from frontline staff to senior leadership. This robust risk culture is a key strength of the bank, directly contributing to its prudent and efficient management of capital. Employees are trained to identify, assess, and mitigate risks proactively, aligning their day-to-day decisions with the bank’s overarching risk framework. This workforce-driven vigilance enhances the quality of the bank’s risk portfolio, as evidenced by its ability to maintain lower capital requirements compared to industry peers. Asset quality remains both strong and stable across the loan portfolio with limited signs of increasing delinquencies.

 

As a strong player in the Icelandic financial services industry with an ESG-ingrained culture Íslandsbanki recognizes that sustainability drives shareholder value and corporatelongevity and the bank’s sustainability strategy and framework has resulted in an innovative product offering for its customers. In April 2021, Íslandsbanki announced its target of achieving full carbon neutrality no later than 2040 and its own operations have been carbon-neutral for the past two years, but with this decision, its targets will also extend to “financed emissions,” which include the carbon footprint of Íslandsbanki’s entire loan and asset portfolio. At the same time, commitments were set for climate targets based on science-based targets and preparations are already underway for a detailed plan providing for secondary objectives in line with that framework. Íslandsbanki has received a strong ESG rating by Reitun, an Icelandic rating agency, in recent years and its sustainability leadership has further been demonstrated in being awarded the Icelandic Knowledge Award 2020 by FVH, the Association of Business and EconomicsGraduates in Iceland. Íslandsbanki has been recognized for excellence in corporate governance several times by the Centre of Corporate Governance at the University of Iceland and by Stjórnvísi, an Icelandic business association focused on corporate governance best practices. In addition to these accomplishments, Íslandsbanki has also been a leader in gender equality for along time. 43% of its Board of Directors and 50% of its Executive Committee are women, in comparison to the global average of major banks of 20% and 18%, respectively, according to aDeloitte report on women in financial services from 2023. As in prior years, in 2024, Íslandsbanki received equal pay certification and was awarded professional certification under the IST 85:2012 Equal Pay Standard. Íslandsbanki has been awarded the Equality Scale by theIcelandic Association of Business Women, FKA annually since 2018.

 

Íslandsbanki has set four financial targets and announced to the market. Íslandsbanki’s financial targets is to deliver a return on equity in excess of 10%, a cost-to-income ratio of below 45%, to maintain a 100-300 bps CET1 capital buffer on top of regulatory requirements (based on current regulatory requirements and management buffer of 100-300bps, the CET1 capital ratio target range of Íslandsbanki was 16.4%-18.4%, as at 31 March 2025) and to pay out approximately 50% of annual earnings as base dividend. Íslandsbanki’s strong and experienced management team has a proven track record of consistently delivering strategic goals and meeting financial targets.

Íslandsbanki

Founded: 2008

Headquarters: Iceland

Focus: Financial Services

Markets: Iceland

Listing: Nasdaq Iceland

Manufacturing Footprint

Broad banking operations delivered through branch network, digital platforms, and mobile services.

Pipeline Depth

Full-spectrum banking and wealth services for individuals and businesses.

Strategic Partnerships

Collaborations and lending initiatives support SME and sustainable projects under its financing framework.

Sustainability

Íslandsbanki emphasizes integrating sustainability into its operations, alongside its profit objectives. In addition to being a model of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in its operations, the Bank is committed to initiating broader collaboration on responsible business practices that contribute to sustainable development in the Icelandic economy [2,3].

 

Environmental Goals:

Íslandsbanki has emphasized evaluating and minimizing the negative impact its activities may have on the environment. With reference to this, the Bank is determined to systematically reduce and prevent the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to its activities, reduce its energy consumption, and decrease the ratio of unsorted waste generated by its activities. The Bank measures its carbon footprint annually, sets targets for reducing carbon emissions, and implements mitigating measures to offset emissions. To reduce its operational GHG emissions the Bank focuses on among other things, decreasing the ratio of unsorted waste by increasing the recycle ratio and use resources responsibly. The Bank aims to ensure the continued carbon neutrality of its operations by offsetting emissions which have not yet been reduced when the Bank has achieved all its targets in relation to GHG emissions. The Bank has committed to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2040, that is GHG emission in operations and financed emissions. The Bank’s carbon footprint and environmental impact of the lending portfolio and investment assets is much more extensive than the impact of the operations.

 

Seven sustainability goals for 2025

  • Achieve full carbon neutrality no later than 2040.

  • Offer customers green and sustainable products.

  • Encourage equality and inclusion through products and services.

  • Further increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

  • Work with suppliers and partners that champion sustainability.

  • Assess sustainability risk, define responsibility, and increase information disclosure.

  • Place special emphasis on four of the UN SDGs [4].

 

References

[1].  https://www.islandsbanki.is/en/article/history-new 

[2]. https://www.islandsbanki.is/en/landing/about/annual-and-sustainability-report-2023 

[3]. https://www.islandsbanki.is/en/article/sustainability-timeline

[4]. https://cdn.islandsbanki.is/image/upload/v1/documents/Islandsbanki_Sustainability_Statement_2023.pdf

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