Collateral

As from 1 March 2017 the bank is required under the European market infrastructure regulation (EMIR) to have in place a CSA with daily exchange of margin collateral etc. with all financial counterparties with which the bank deals domiciled (inter alia) in an EU member state.

The Emir regulation regulates OTC derivatives and entails inter alia that SpareBank 1 SMN will be entitled to clear certain derivatives transactions through a central counterparty. This mainly applies to interest rate derivatives in euro and Norwegian kroner. Derivatives are cleared through London Clearing House as central counterparty where cash is the only collateral at present. SpareBank 1 SMN is not a direct member of London Clearing House, but has entered an agreement with Commerzbank  and SEB as clearing broker. The liabilities are presented gross in the table below.

SpareBank 1 Markets clears ordinary share trades executed at Oslo Børs through CCP settlements. The company is a direct clearing member of SIX X-Clear. The company furnishes cash as collateral for the daily margin payments. Clearing of Norwegian listed derivatives takes place at LCH.

SpareBank 1 SMN is registered as a GCM member of NASDAQ OMX Clearing AB. The bank offers customers clearing representation related to their trade in electricity and salmon derivatives on NASDAQ OMX Oslo ASA and Fish Pool ASA. Clearing representation entails that the bank substitutes itself in the place of the client as counterparty to NASDAQ OMX Clearing AB and takes on the obligation towards NASDAQ to furnish margin collateral and to execute settlement of contracts and pay charges. For the bank's exposure as a GCM, clients will furnish collateral in the form of a deposit of cash and/or encumbrance of other assets.

Ongoing lawsuits

The Group is not involved in legal disputes considered to be of substantial significance for the Group's financial position. No provision for loss has been made as of 31 December 2021.

Provisions

The group has made provisions for pension liabilities, see note 22, specified losses on guarantees, see note 10, restructuring and gifts. The provision for restructuring is made based on the downsizing plan. Provision on gifts is the part of previous year’s profit to be allocated to non-profit causes. More on this topic in the section Comunity dividend.