Accounting Policy

Identifying a lease

At the inception of a contract, The Group assesses whether the contract is, or contains, a lease. A contract is, or contains, a lease if the contract conveys the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for consideration.

The Group as a lessee

Separating components in the lease contract
For contracts that constitute, or contain a lease, the Group separates lease components if it benefits from the use of each underlying asset either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available, and the underlying asset is neither highly dependent on, nor highly interrelated with, the other underlying assets in the contract. The Group then accounts for each lease component within the contract as a lease separately from non-lease components of the contract.

Recognition of leases and exemptions 
At the lease commencement date, the Group recognises a lease liability and corresponding right-of-use asset for all lease agreements in which it is the lessee, except for the following exemptions applied:

• Short-term leases (defined as 12 months or less)
• Low value assets

For these leases, the Group recognises the lease payments as other operating expenses in the statement of profit or loss when they incur.

Lease liabilities
The lease liability is recognised at the commencement date of the lease. The Group measures the lease liability at the present value of the lease payments for the right to use the underlying asset during the lease term that are not paid at the commencement date. The lease term represents the non-cancellable period of the lease, together with periods covered by an option either to extend or to terminate the lease when the Group is reasonably certain to exercise this option.

The lease payments included in the measurement comprise of:

• Fixed lease payments (including in-substance fixed payments), less any lease incentives receivable
• Variable lease payments that depend on an index or a rate, initially measured using the index or rate as at the commencement date
• Amount expected to be payable by the Group under residual value guarantees
• The exercise price of a purchase option, if the Group is reasonably certain to exercise that option
• Payments of penalties for terminating the lease, if the lease term reflects the Group exercising an option to terminate the lease.

The lease liability is subsequently measured by increasing the carrying amount to reflect interest on the lease liability, reducing the carrying amount to reflect the lease payments made and remeasuring the carrying amount to reflect any reassessment or lease modifications, or to reflect adjustments in lease payments due to an adjustment in an index or rate.

The Group does not include variable lease payments in the lease liability. Instead, the Group recognises these variable lease expenses in profit or loss.
The Group presents its lease liabilities as separate line items in the statement of financial position.

Right-of-use assets

The Group measures the right-of use asset at cost, less any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses, adjusted for any remeasurement of lease liabilities. The cost of the right-of-use asset comprise:

• The amount of the initial measurement of the lease liability recognised
• Any lease payments made at or before the commencement date, less any incentives received
• Any initial direct costs incurred by the Group.
• An estimate of the costs to be incurred by the Group in dismantling and removing the underlying asset, restoring the site on which it is located or restoring the underlying asset to the condition required by the terms and conditions of the lease, unless those costs are incurred to produce inventories.

The Group applies the depreciation requirements in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment in depreciating the right-of-use asset, except that the right-of-use asset is depreciated from the commencement date to the earlier of the lease term and the remaining useful life of the right-of-use asset.
The Group applies IAS 36 Impairment of Assets to determine whether the right-of-use asset is impaired and to account for any impairment loss identified.

The Group as a lessor

Separating components in the lease contract
For a contract that contains a lease component and one or more additional lease or non-lease components, The Group allocates the consideration in the contract applying the principles in IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

Recognition of leases and income
For contracts where the Group acts as a lessor, it classifies each of its leases as either an operating lease or a finance lease. A lease is classified as a finance lease if it transfers substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of an underlying asset. A lease is classified as an operating lease if it does not transfer substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of an underlying asset. The group as a lessor does not have any finance leases.

Operating leases

For operating leases, the Group recognises lease payments as other income, mainly on a straight-line basis, unless another systematic basis is more representative of the pattern in which benefit from the use of the underlying asset is diminished. The Group recognises costs incurred in earning the lease income in other operating expenses. The Group adds initial direct costs incurred in obtaining an operating lease to the carrying amount of the underlying asset and recognises those costs as an expense over the lease term on the same basis as the rental income.

Recognition and discount rate
IFRS 16 refers to two different methods of determining the discount rate for lease payments:

• The rate implicit in the lease
• The lessee’s incremental rate of borrowing, if the implicit rate is not readily determined

Lease contracts covered by IFRS 16 vary as regards term and option structure. Moreover, assumptions must be made as to the opening value of the underlying assets. Both of these items make an implicit interest calculation more complicated than an incremental borrowing rate calculation.

SpareBank 1 SMN has a framework for transfer pricing that is designed to provide as correct a picture as possible of how various balance sheet items, business lines, segments or regions in the bank contribute to the bank’s profitability. The starting point for the transfer pricing rates is the bank’s historical cost of funding. The Group’s cost of funding can be split up into a cost related to senior unsecured debt and a cost related to capital (hybrid capital and subordinated loan capital). The latter cost of funding shall, like other equity, be distributed on assets based on risk weights. The cost related to own funds (hybrid capital and subordinated loan capital) then appears as a further transfer price addition to the loan accounts.

The bank also has indirect liquidity costs related to liquidity reserves. These are reserves that the bank is required to hold by the authorities along with reserves of surplus liquidity held by the bank for shorter periods. The liquidity reserves have a substantial negative return measured against the bank’s cost of funding. This cost is distributed on balance sheet items that create a need for liquidity reserves, and appear as a reduction from the transfer price interest for deposits and an addition as regards loans.

Transfer Price rate = cost of funding + addition for liquidity reserve cost + addition for cost of capital

In the transfer pricing the bank’s liquidity cost or cost of funding is distributed on assets and liabilities, and is actively utilised in the internal account. The transfer price is accordingly a well-established tool in the governance of the bank, and is regularly updated. The transfer price interest rate for an asset with the corresponding underlying, in this case commercial property, will therefore be a good representation of the incremental borrowing rate. This discount rate will include the material additions to the cost of funding, giving a more correct picture of the opportunity cost for the bank. This interest rate have been used as the discount rate for the Group’s leases coming under IFRS 16. A discount rate of 2.05 per cent has been used in 2021.

Right-of-use assets are classified as non-current assets in the balance sheet whereas the lease liability is classified as other debt. The Group’s lease liability relates in all essentials to lease agreements for offices