Morrow Bank AB (MOBA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

May 13, 2020

Oslo Bors NO Financials Banks earnings 44 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Jan Haglund

executive
#1

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Komplett Bank results for Q1 2020. Moving on to slide today's presenters. My name is Jan Haglund, I am the CEO of Komplett Bank. Together with me today, I have our CFO, Henning Fagerbakke, who will deliver the specifics on the financials in the presentation. After the presentation, you will all have a chance to ask questions in the Q&A session. Moving on to Page 4. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the start of the year can best be described as navigating through unchartered territory. Within a span of weeks, priorities shifted towards safeguarding the health of our employees and our families and to helping our customers through these trying times. From March 13, all employees have been working from home. I am proud of how all of our dedicated employees have adjusted to the new situation, maintaining their energy and drive and continuing to serve our customers. In terms of customer behavior, we have seen a decrease in the volume of card transactions as well as a positive trend for POS, neither of which is surprising. We have also had an increase in the number of requests from customers with short-term challenges in servicing their loans. As per end of April, we have been contacted by 500 customers. We have had an even number of requests from Norway and Finland and only a handful from Sweden. The financial impact to date has been limited. We see stable financial performance and an improvement in default levels in Q1 compared to the previous quarter. Default levels in April are even lower than in Q1. However, we have decided to make additional loan loss provisions of NOK 50 million to account for possible effects due to the increased macroeconomic uncertainty related to COVID-19. In terms of the impact of COVID-19 going forward, the jury is still out, both for society as well as the economy in general. I want to underline that I am glad that Komplett Bank has a highly diversified consumer credit portfolio. Our customer base consists of 280,000 customers employed in all sectors of the economy spread across the Nordics. We are not exposed to one single industry. We will continue to focus on our core business when navigating this uncharted territory, and we will ensure increased attention on monitoring and managing core risk invoicing and collection processes. We continue to onboard new customers, but we are even more prudent in terms of risk selection. Moving on to Picture 5. We grew by NOK 326 million in the first quarter, including currency effects. Already before COVID-19, we were prudent in terms of risk level on new sales. Given COVID-19, we decided to reduce new sales even further. And growth, net of currency effects, came in at minus NOK 190 million. I am satisfied to see that loan losses in the quarter, net of additional provisions, improved materially and that we are once again back at historic levels. Over the past 18 months, Komplett Bank has systematically implemented measures to strengthen credit quality. We have had a gradual improvement in credit quality during 2019 with the exception of Q4. I am satisfied to see that our efforts are starting to pay off and that the positive trend continues. Net of the additional provisions, loan losses came in at 3.8% versus 5.6% in the previous quarter. Profit after tax improved compared to the previous quarter to NOK 46 million, driven by lower loan losses. Excluding the additional provisions, profit after tax was NOK 83 million. This represents a return on equity of 10.1% and 18.1%, excluding the additional provisions. We remain well capitalized and have a CET1 ratio of 20.9%, well above our 17% requirement. Moving on to Picture 6. During Q1, we saw broad-based improvements in credit quality. Q1 was significantly better than Q4 in Norway and Sweden. And in all 3 markets, April was even stronger than Q1. For consumer loans Norway, consumer loans Sweden and credit cards Norway, we had significant improvements in terms of volumes sent to collection. In our Finnish consumer loan portfolio, the volumes sent to collection were stable compared to the previous quarter. Given the uncertain macroeconomic situation, we have included an overview that we normally do not provide. The table shows past due balances per reminder cycle in April compared to the average past due balances the last 6 months in the same reminder cycle. A decline of balances compared to the previous months indicated lower loan loss provisions are required. As can be seen in the table, we have significant improvements in April across all reminder cycles in both Norway and Sweden. The development is more mixed in Finland. But also here, we have a decline of 5% in 0 days past due. That is reminder #1. This is positive as reminder #1 is an early indicator of development in credit quality. The decline in all markets show that there has been no deterioration in credit quality in April, but rather an improvement. Moving on to Picture #7. The bank has an efficient and robust business model. Given our high net interest margin, our strong profit before loan losses, our flexible cost base and our solid capital position, we have the profitability, solidity and flexibility to weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although such a scenario would be very extreme, we have the capacity to, over time, withstand more than 2.5x our current underlying loan losses without falling below our CET1 capital requirement. With that, I give the word to our CFO, Henning Fagerbakke, who will give us the details on the financials.

Henning Fagerbakke

executive
#2

Thank you, Jan. As Jan mentioned, we have been prudent on risk selection in Q1. Adjusted for currency, net loans decreased by NOK 189 million, as shown in the table down to the right. Actual net loan growth was NOK 326 million with Finland and Sweden strengthening its currency versus NOK, driving the increase. It's worth mentioning that Komplett Bank launched a new refinancing product in Norway in April, which we expect will strengthen our competitive position in this market. Importantly, we do see room to grow in all our markets and we will continuously evaluate credit quality when managing growth going forward. Next slide. In regards of total income, we are up 3% year-on-year and slightly down from the previous quarter. Net interest income is the main driver behind the decline from Q4 as we reduced new sales in the quarter and commission income lags costs. Number of customers continued to grow to almost 280,000 in Q1. Next slide. Operational expenses declined to NOK 97 million from NOK 99 million in the previous quarter, mainly driven by the reduced marketing activity. Even though costs declined, the cost/income ratio, excluding marketing, increased to 31.9% from 29.3% in Q4 as income declined. During the quarter, we had an increase in spending driven by projects aimed at strengthening our risk and collection capabilities. We expect to continue to invest in these areas also in Q2. This is in line with our priorities for the year. Improving the operational performance continues to be a priority. And given the macroeconomic uncertainty, we will have increased focus on costs going forward. Next slide. Even though we have an improvement in credit losses in the quarter, this is an increase in past due 90 days-plus. The reason for this is the weak performance in Q4, the expiry of the forward flow contract as well as currency. We have a coverage ratio of 61% at the end of the quarter. The quarterly loan loss ratio, net of additional provisions, declined to 3.8% in Q1 from 5.6% in the previous quarter. This means we are back to historical levels, as Jan just explained. We have also seen a broad-based improvement in credit quality across metrics this year even into April. We continue our efforts to reduce loan loss ratio, while at the same time recognizing potential impact from COVID-19, which contributed to our decision of making additional provisions in Q1. Next slide. So moving into the breakdown of the loan losses. Losses in Stage 1 declined due to reduced new sales. Stage 2 fell as a result of better credit quality and fewer customers being overdue, while Stage 3 and other in total were on a similar level as in Q4. Importantly, the underlying performance in Stage 3 developed positively. This was, however, offset by the increase in loss given default parameters made in Q4 together with the expiry of a forward flow contract. In Q1, we made additional loan loss provisions of NOK 50 million due to the macroeconomic uncertainty related to COVID-19. Next slide. Profit after tax was NOK 46 million in Q1 with the effect of additional loan loss provisions being negative by NOK 38 million net of tax. Adjusted for additional loan loss provisions, net profit is NOK 83 million and return on equity is back at similar levels of the first 3 quarters in 2019. Next slide. Our CET1 ratio slightly declined to 20.9% in Q1, down from 21.2% in Q4. We continued to have significant headroom with both the capital requirements and our target, which includes a 1 percent point management buffer. Note that the CET1 requirement was lower to 17% from 18.3% in Q4 as authorities reduced countercyclical buffer requirements during March due to the COVID-19 situation. Concluding the financial review. We have had a positive start to the year with strong profitability development, and we move into Q2 with improving credit performance and a very solid capital position. With that, I'll leave it to you, Jan. Please take us through the outlook and summary.

Jan Haglund

executive
#3

Thank you, Henning. Moving on then to Page #17. Komplett Bank has a proven track record of offering attractive and convenient financing in the Nordics. We have since 2014 built a customer base of 280,000 customers who value and use our products. Even though a lot of the current focus is on COVID-19 and its effect, there are other important events in quarter that deserve to be highlighted. Since the last quarterly presentation, we have made our services even more accessible to our customers with the launch of the first version of our new app. In April, we launched our new refinancing product in Norway. In terms of internal improvements, we have prepared for transition to the standardized method for measuring operational risk, and we have also signed a new forward flow contract for our Norwegian consumer loan portfolio. Currently, we have access to the markets that we need based on our short- to midterm growth ambitions. During 2020, we do not plan to enter new geographies nor product areas, but rather focus on deepening penetration in the markets where we are already present. We will do this by continuing to enhance our products and services to current and potential customers. We see significant opportunities to do this, given that we recently have launched a number of these markets and have a limited market share. Short term, our growth ambitions need to be balanced versus the effects of COVID-19. We continue to onboard new customers, but we are even more prudent in terms of risk selection. I expect us to continue to decline slightly in volume in Q2, but that we will successfully open up sales and grow again in the second half of the year. Yes, we are in the middle of the pandemic. However, it is important to remember that the bank has an efficient and robust business model. Our diversified customer base and product portfolio provides stability. Given our high net interest margin, our strong profit before loan losses, our flexible cost base and our strong capital position, we have the profitability, solidity and flexibility necessary to weather COVID-19 and its effects. Moving on to Picture #18. With the current level of macroeconomic uncertainty, our priorities for 2020, as communicated in Q4, are even more relevant. Our main priorities are to reduce credit losses, strengthen operational performance and ensure a continued robust financial position and dividend capacity. In order to reduce credit losses, we will continue to improve customer acquisition processes; strengthen our risk strategy, policy rules and scorecards; and enhance invoicing and collection processes as well as our bill payment functionality. To strengthen operational performance, we will strengthen data and analytics capabilities even further; enhance key customer touch points, product and related services; and increase our focus on costs going forward. To ensure a continued robust financial position and dividend capacity, we will optimize our capital structure and manage growth, profitability and capital allocation across the markets we are present. Moving to Picture #19. We have 3 financial targets: capital adequacy, return on equity and dividend. In terms of capital adequacy, we have a CET1 target of 18%. At the end of the quarter, we had a CET1 ratio of 20.9%, well above our target level and 3.9 percentage points above the regulatory requirement. Return on equity. Our target is to achieve a return on equity of 20% over time. In Q1, we had an underlying return on equity of 18%, slightly below our target return on equity. Our target of 20% over time remains. And based on our observations of the market and our competitive position, we see this as achievable. However, given COVID-19 and the additional reservations we have already made, I do not expect us to meet the target for 2020. Dividend. Our policy regarding dividend remain unchanged. While maintaining our solidity is a priority, which has become even more important in short term, we will distribute capital not deployed for growth as dividends. Next slide. Before we close and open up for questions, I have one final comment. Although COVID-19 has presented us with an unprecedented global challenge, Komplett Bank has been able to rapidly adjust and impact on our operations so far has been limited. I am satisfied to see that the efforts we have made during the past 18 months to improve credit quality have effects and that losses in the quarter improved materially. Our profitability, solidity and flexibility give us a robust platform to build from. By maintaining focus on serving our customers and on executing on our priorities, I am confident that we will continue to strengthen our competitive position going forward. Thank you. Operator, can you please open up for questions?

Operator

operator
#4

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Håkon Astrup from DNB Markets.

Håkon Astrup

analyst
#5

Two questions for me. The first one on dividend and excess capital, you now have a target of 18% for CET1 ratio. Is that -- do you think it's -- or should we expect that everything above that should be paid out as dividend? We know that the Norwegian FSA is quite [indiscernible] when it comes to capital. That is the first question. And the second question is regarding growth in Finland and how do you see that developing following the proposed interest rate cap of 10%.

Jan Haglund

executive
#6

Okay. Thank you. I'll start with the question regarding Finland. Regarding the new regulations in Finland, there is a proposed 10% interest cap, as you asked, and there's also proposed limitations in marketing. As to my knowledge, it has not yet been decided, but we are expecting and preparing for such a decision. As it only affects new lending and is a temporary legislation lasting until December 31, I do not expect the effects of the rate cap to be substantial in terms of profitability. In terms of growth, it will have some impact as we will consider it in our underwriting. However, there are also limitations in marketing proposed. And I do expect us to grow at a slightly lower pace in Finland this year due to these new proposed legislations. As to your other question, can you expect everything above 18% to be paid out? I would say no. There are multiple reasons for that because you have to consider the total capital position. We will have to -- we are pursuing and will pursue to actually have more Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, given that, that would optimize our balance sheet, enable us to be more capital efficient, provide a higher return on equity, but also enhance our dividend capacity. In terms of the timing of AT1 and Tier 2, currently, the markets are a little bit turbulent. In terms of should you expect to get everything paid out, no, I would not expect that. We have a limitation in terms of how much we can pay out, which is 50% of this year's profit without asking for permission from the FSA. And as we are also entering a dividend position, I would think that we will not ask for that permission in the first year. So that's one limitation. And the other one is, of course, that we, first and foremost, need to consider our solidity when deciding on the dividend, our solidity as well as our growth plans at that time. But if you would have -- as you asked, if we would pay out 4%, I mean, that would be roughly NOK 350 million, I think. So that is not a reasonable expectation, I would say.

Håkon Astrup

analyst
#7

And just a follow-up on that. Do you expect to -- at least given the current situation, do you expect to pay a dividend for 2022 given how things look right now?

Jan Haglund

executive
#8

I think it's a little bit too early in the year to answer that question. I think that is one question that we will have to look at and consider once we have more information in terms of what is happening with COVID-19. But it is, as I said, it is our target to pay out dividends. It's our financial target. But -- the capital that we are not to deploy for growth should be distributed as dividends. But as we are currently in Q1 and in the beginning of the pandemic, it's a little bit too early to state as to whether it will happen or not. But it is our target.

Operator

operator
#9

Our next question comes from Jan Erik Gjerland from ABG.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#10

Just a couple of questions from my side as well. You elaborated on the credit quality and you talked about an improvement in probability of default as the loss even default has certainly been weaker. Could you talk a little bit more about the PD as well as the LGD, if we should expect them to be much better, weaker? And how is the LGD developing in the different kind of countries, if you can talk about that?

Jan Haglund

executive
#11

In terms of the LGD, as you know, we did an adjustment on LGD in Q4. We have done an adjustment to date. There has been no grounds for doing so. In terms of PD, we've actually seen a slight improvement in PD compared to Q4 as of where we stand currently. So there are no signs in PD or LGD parameters at this point in time. However, we recognize that we are facing a potential downturn in the economy, which might have an impact, and that is the reason for the adjustment that we have done on the macroeconomic factor to sort of try to forecast a future development of the portfolio and that will then incorporate also the PD and LGD. But that's an assessment we've made today based on the best information we have to date. But as of today, we have seen no impact on PD or LGD rather -- no negative impact, rather the opposite. We have a positive impact on PD.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#12

Is there a difference between the countries you can talk about in terms of PD and LGD? You said you have not as good -- or strong improvement in Sweden into April. But is it because they are better from the start or is it not getting better. Norway and Finland had some improvement you showed on the slide I recall?

Jan Haglund

executive
#13

Yes. You should know that when you're talking about PD in the IFRS 9 model, then we're talking about what happened 12 to 36 months ago. So it's a very trailing measure. So if we want to have what's happening to date, I think the best overview that we can provide is the information that was in the presentation, which basically shows that if you're looking at the April numbers, both March and April came in very strong, I should say. And looking at those numbers, we have seen a significant improvement, especially in Norway and in Sweden. Finland is more stable. The reason, I think, is for Sweden, that we have relatively recently launched in Sweden, which means that you initially accept higher-risk customers until you have trained your models. We have continuously done that for the past 18 months, and we see that's taking effect and I think that's the main driver of the development we see in Sweden. In terms of Norway, there's a big shift there as well. However, you need to compare this with the basis that includes the Q4 quarter as well, which was an anomaly compared to the trend that we have seen. All across the market, we have worked to improve our credit quality for the past 18 months, and we were on a positive trend in Norway. However, that was reversed, especially in Q4. But we are now yet back on the positive trend that we saw prior to Q4, the trend that we have been on throughout 2019. In terms of Finland, it's more stable. That also can be shown in the figures, that has been more stable. And then you can ask yourselves, why? How come this happens right now? Well, one of the things and the most important driver, as I see it, because it is a long-term trend, is the work that we have performed over the past 18 months. But it's also, I think, one part of it could be due to quite rational customer behavior. That is that also customers realize that there might be a downturn, so they are more prudent. They pay their bills on time because they have more excess liquidity as they are not able to spend their money. So it's also a conscious choice of consumers, which might actually initially in this period improved credit losses. But that's a hypothesis. We're looking at March and April rather than anything because people who are not laid off -- we saw the same thing in the financial crisis, the people who were not laid off actually had more money, and we're better able to service their loans.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#14

Okay. Just to follow up on the NOK 50 million you took on some sort of COVID-19 situation. Is that covering the increase in unemployment and stuff like that? So if unemployment actually stays -- or improve from here, you will not sort of add a big chunk of loan losses in the quarters to come? Is that how we should understand it?

Jan Haglund

executive
#15

Well, you should understand the NOK 50 million it is our best assessment at this time based on the forecast that we have reviewed. We have gone on a broad-based set of numbers in terms of the number of forecasters included and had a look at that. And that's the foundation for the adjustment that we have made. As to whether it will be sufficient or if there will be additional adjustments, it's too early to say. It all depends what happens with the forecast going forward, I would say. I think, yes, certainly -- yes? Sorry, Jan. Please go ahead.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#16

So finally, on yields then, taking all the progress for here. What is happening here? You said that you have a flattish development on the lending side, but falling on credit card, you say it's due to mix. How large difference is it in the different countries when it comes to yields on Finland, Sweden and Norway when it comes to credit cards?

Jan Haglund

executive
#17

If you look at the credit cards, I think that's also one thing that's inherent in the product. It's natural because when you issue a loan, everything is interest-bearing from day 1, which means that you come in with the interest that you have on the product. For a credit card, first of all, you have to issue the card. Then the customer needs to utilize the card, then they need to decide to revolve on the card. And you always also have a mix between people who actually use the card constantly for transaction and people who use the card and they revolve on and off. And that means, initially, during card programs, you usually do not have the yield that you have on a new program as you do on an older program. That's all included in our forecast regarding cards. And that's also one of the reasons why we, in our expansion strategy, always have said start with loans then follow up with credit cards because the time -- the payback time on loans is shorter.

Operator

operator
#18

As there appear to be no audio questions, do you have any online questions?

Jan Haglund

executive
#19

Yes, I have a few. So let's see, I've answered a number of these already. First one, [ Gaid Jadda ] poses a question. Despite a low share price, there has been little insider buying. Does management believe in the company? Well, I can only speak from my personal perspective. I currently own approximately 1.7 million shares and options in the bank. I have, on a discretionary basis, decided to set aside 20% of my salary every month in our incentive program. So from my perspective, I have a sizable holding. And in terms of ongoing investments, I continue to invest in the bank every month. So yes, I firmly believe in the bank. I hope that answers your question. Then Vegard had a question -- Vegard Toverud from Pareto. Could you please explain the discrepancy between the positive development on Page 6 and the Stage 3 development on Page 12 to 13? And I think then that Vegard refers to the fact that the current situation with the numbers I show on Page 6 show large improvements in terms of overdue balances whereas the 90-day past due bucket increases, as well as that there's no difference in the sum of losses in Stage 3 and other. First, answering that one. I will say the reason is that a lot of the increase that we saw in Stage 3 this quarter is stuff that flowed in, in Q4 where we had poor performance, as Henning said. And secondly, we also have a currency effect also explaining why the volumes actually grow unproportionately much. As to your second part of the question, that comes back, I think, to the bridge. For those of you who have the presentation, I'll point you to the page. It's on Page 13. I think what Vegard points to is that Stage 3 and other currently is at NOK 102.6 million and we were at the same level in Q4. And how come we're saying that we have large improvements. And I think here, it's important to understand this differentiates -- because this is actually the money recognized as losses. And the money recognized as losses is a factor of volume and how much the loss given default. And as we said in this presentation, the volumes have declined because we have to recognize that we had a benefit of the forward flow contract in Q4 and we also have shifted the LGDs in Q4, which means that the volumes have gone down quite substantially in order for us to actually be at the same level between Q1 and Q4. The underlying performance in the book is better even though that the financials look the same. I hope that answers your question. Then we have -- Vegard, I think I -- yes, on the Norwegian refinancing product, what percentage of customers do you expect from your current book is a question I received here. And in terms of the refinancing product, we launched the refinancing product in April. I should say the most important part of this launch was to strengthen our competitive position in Norway and enable long-term growth. We expect little cannibalization of our own volumes with our refinancing product, given that we were not active in this segment before. So I would not expect there to be a large overlap between our prior year and our current sales. In terms of what we have seen so far, in the brokers where we are present, we have seen a significant improvement in new sales after the launch. This is a positive indication of improved ability to capture market share in Norway. But I should say that given the current macroeconomic uncertainty, we are prudent also on this front and not selling on full scale yet. However, initial indications are positive. Then [ Gerund ] has a question. Could you please break down the FX impact in your 91 days volume? I actually don't have that number. Do you have that number? Or maybe we could return to [ Gerund ] with that question.

Henning Fagerbakke

executive
#20

Actually, I got that number. And if we have none change of the currency rates from end of Q4 until end of Q1, the FX is NOK 100 million in the Q1 numbers so -- actually, NOK 110 million. So the increase from NOK 1.282 billion to NOK 1.7 billion is about NOK 110 million because of the increase in currency rates.

Jan Haglund

executive
#21

Okay. Good. And then we have the last question from Truls. Can you talk a bit more about cost? If we look at cost, including marketing, it has grown quite a bit the latest year or so, but you have had a lot of strategic processes. What should we expect going forward? What initiatives do you expect to take? Well, as you can see from the cost side, we have not highlighted any additional costs or nonrecurring cost this time. There have been, but they have been too small to actually take up as a factor. I would say, first of all, in terms of what has happened in this quarter, we have had investments in especially our credit risk and collection capabilities in the quarter as well as in our operational risk project for the past 2 quarters. And therefore, we have had a number of consultants in, which have increased our underlying or increased our costs. I do not classify this as nonrecurring, though. It's part of doing business. It's just that we've invested more in this quarter within this area because we think it's the right thing to do in the current environment. In terms of future, what can you expect? And I should say that given the situation with COVID-19, I think we need to be more prudent on cost going forward because it's one factor that is well under our control. We are not planning any temporary or permanent layoffs in staff. We are not at that position or in that situation. There's no need. I think we need -- we have a lot of skill and motivated and dedicated employees that do a fantastic job. But I do expect us to increase our focus on costs going forward, lowering the overall cost level, especially from the fall because we cannot afford to have an increase in costs if we do not have a corresponding or high increase in income. And if we believe that we are going to grow less, as we are more prudent given COVID-19, we also have to be more cost conscious. I think that was the last question that we have received that has not been answered as of yet. Thank you very much.

Operator

operator
#22

We did have a follow-up question from Jan Erik Gjerland.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#23

Yes. Just you touched a little bit upon it. But your appetite for growth going forward, you have sort of dampened it the last, let's say, the year or so. So how is your outlook for 2020 and into '21? If you can think a little bit loudly about that, that would be great.

Jan Haglund

executive
#24

Yes. I would say that -- I mean, as you know, we do not provide detailed guiding on growth, but I'll just talk a little bit around the factor and I say we declined -- ex currency, we declined by NOK 190 million in Q4. We are continuing to be a little bit cautious, which means that I do expect us to decline also in Q2. We are, as we mentioned, still onboarding new customers, but we have lowered our risk levels as well as limited our marketing spend, as could be seen and our broker distribution. I do, however, expect us to successfully open up distribution again as society opens up, but I do not expect that to go back to full capacity in the near term. I think that we will -- or rather, we will start growing this fall again. But for Q2, I do expect us to continue to contract. In terms of reasonable growth going forward, I think we've been in the 6% to 10% or 6% to 12% range. I would say that, that is my best guess for 2021, probably in the upper end, somewhere around 8% to 12% would be my target. But that all depends on the economy. We are currently in a quite fast-moving situation, and we adapt and adjust to the situation as we see most prudence.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#25

And just finally, on the point of sales, that was sort of Internet driven and even now I have got some Internet [ days ]. So how is the pace in the point of sales performing? That was the only area that actually had some growth in when it comes to lending this quarter. So is this something that we should still continue to moderate expectations there? Or is it a boom now during the COVID-19? Or do you expect it to be weaker? Or is it something that will open last?

Jan Haglund

executive
#26

Well, as we mentioned in the presentation, I think a couple of behaviors that we have seen that our -- to be expected is that the spending on credit cards is down. I think now -- this is not the latest data, but at least a few weeks ago, I think our spending was down like 30% in Norway where it was down pretty much 15% -- 10% to 15% in Sweden only. But that all depends also on what's happening in society in the respective markets. As society opens up, we expect spending to actually increase there again. In terms of POS, we have the opposite situation, that we've had an increase in spending compared to what we've seen previously. A lot of it has been on invoice, but there still has been an increase in spending in POS. And I do expect that, that is a long-term trend that we will see going forward.

Jan Gjerland

analyst
#27

Okay. And any more success on adding it to other kind of suppliers?

Jan Haglund

executive
#28

As we've said during last year, we have not -- we had a focus on compliance. We currently have our POS solution implemented into checkouts, Komplett.se and Komplett.no, and we capture a great share of new transactions in those 2 checkouts. In order to significantly increase the pace of growth, we need to implement our solution in additional checkouts. During last year, our focus was on compliance. Currently, it's on COVID-19. And we -- our development in this area has been slower than we would have wished, I would say.

Operator

operator
#29

There appear to be no further questions. I'll return the conference to you for any closing remarks.

Jan Haglund

executive
#30

Okay. Thank you very much for the questions, and I look forward to speaking to you again after the summer. Bye.

Henning Fagerbakke

executive
#31

Goodbye.

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