Oma Säästöpankki

The average person on the street doesn’t always manage to process the information in these complex corporate restructurings. I’m a layman myself, but I’ve followed all of Sarajärvi’s activities in Seinäjoki since the Realia days, when Huoneistokeskus and SKV were Finland’s biggest real estate “pro-professionals.” There was quite a lot of “sludge” to dig through back then… but those have also been restructured away.

Kassu has written a comprehensive report on OmaSp; like other deep dives, it is available for everyone to read and there are no paywalls. :slight_smile:

OmaSp’s challenges in recent years have clearly weighed on the bank’s earnings level. Although the situation has stabilized, the stock’s pricing does not offer a sufficiently attractive expected return against our current growth and profitability forecasts. We reiterate our reduce recommendation and our target price of EUR 12.0.

Quote from the report:

The situation has stabilized, but the outlook is challenging

As a result of the revealed misconduct and deficiencies in risk management, OmaSp’s management team and Board of Directors were almost completely renewed. Heading into 2026, OmaSp faces a twofold situation. On the one hand, credit loss levels have clearly settled, but the increased cost structure has already pushed the bank’s profitability level below the cost of capital. Due to increased administrative expenses, OmaSp’s cost structure is already quite heavy relative to the size of its business. In the current strategy period, it is important for the company to achieve profitable growth without forgetting cost efficiency and successful risk management.



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Something like this: Oma Säästöpankin kaksi ex-hallitusjäsentä sai tuomion sisäpiiritiedon väärinkäytöstä | Kauppalehti

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Mäkynen was sentenced to 40 day-fines, totaling 11,080 euros. Additionally, he was ordered to pay the state the financial benefit gained through the crime, which the district court estimated at 779 euros.

Hemminki was sentenced to 60 day-fines, totaling 5,280 euros. Additionally, he was ordered to pay the state the financial benefit gained through the crime, which the district court estimated at 944 euros.

Apparently, it’s worth taking a massive personal risk and losing face for such small amounts of money…

More likely, however, it was ignorance—which then again raises the question of what merits they had for being on that board in the first place?

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Here are Kasper’s pre-result comments, as OmaSp is set to report its results on Thursday :slight_smile:

We expect the bank’s result to have improved from the comparison period, supported by decreasing credit loss amounts and the absence of one-off expenses. According to our estimate, revenues are still under clear pressure due to the declining net interest income. Additionally, our interest is focused on the development of credit losses and the quality of the loan portfolio.

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Things are moving in exactly the right direction, especially now that interest rates are on the rise…

Oma Säästöpankki Oyj’s Interim Report 1 January – 31 March 2026: New lending volume returned to growth – solvency strengthened further – comparable profit before taxes for the first quarter improved to EUR 13.7 million

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Q1 was okay in terms of results, but one concerning point was found.

“Non-performing loans were 543 (485) million euros at the end of the period, which was 9.3 (7.7) percent of the loan portfolio.” (p. 5/80)

I’ll have to dig deeper into this tonight.

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So there’s no need to be overly worried about that. OmaSP has a couple of large customers who don’t pay any of their bills or debt servicing on time. Granted, non-performing loans (NPLs) should be trending downwards; that certainly caught my eye, I must admit.

The deterioration of the credit portfolio continues, and it’s not just due to those “couple of large customers who aren’t paying their bills.” The amount of non-performing loans related to activities contrary to instructions dropped by over €27 million since the beginning of the year, but despite this, the total amount of non-performing loans (NPL) grew by over €17 million, already reaching 9.3% of the entire loan portfolio:

Omasp’s loan portfolio resembles that of a payday loan company, as I have been trying to point out in this thread for a couple of years now. Those completely irresponsible credits granted to a few customers are just the tip of the iceberg; money has been handed out on loose grounds more broadly as well.

Bringing that loan portfolio back to a “normal state” will take years and will cost a lot of money in credit losses and operating expenses.

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The talk about a couple of large customers can certainly be forgotten when a significant portion of the bank’s loan portfolio is very soft. Credit has been handed out very loosely. The principle has been that if a customer couldn’t get a loan elsewhere, OmaSp would arrange it. After all, the bank has wanted to be the fastest-growing in the Nordics. With normal principles, fast growth would not have been possible. It is simply pointless to believe that customers wanted to join the bank because of so-called “good service.” OmaSp’s so-called good service has been a looser collateral and credit granting policy compared to other banks. They wanted growth regardless of the risks. Many banks have succumbed to this in the past. It is indeed strange that the bank’s administration allowed this and forgot the lessons provided by the facts. Well, this obviously reveals incompetence in the top administration and the indifference of the management. Apparently, even the administration was not correctly informed of the facts, meaning the entire decision-making chain has failed. However, the reasons in different parts of the decision-making process are very different. Over 500 million euros in problem loans is no small matter for a “kiosk” of this size.

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In this latest interview, these issues are discussed, among others. According to the CEO, they can no longer hide behind any exceptional circumstances; instead, the credit loss levels of recent quarters are now part of normal business operations.

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