Two new directors, Gunnar Thor Gislason, Managing Director of Sundagardar, and Jon Armann Gudjonsson, attorney, took their seats on the board of Saga Capital Investment Bank after parent company
Saga Eignarhaldsfelag's AGM, which was held at the end of May.
Three directors continue to sit on the Board: Halldor Johannsson, Managing Director of KEA and Chairman of the Board of Saga Capital; Gunnar Thor Gudmannsson, Managing Director of Vogaver; and
Svanhildur Nanna Vigfusdottir, who runs her own investment firm.
The AGM approved changes to Saga Capital's Remuneration Policy, including the removal of provisions allowing for rewarding staff with so-called purchase rights on the bank's shares.
Thorvaldur Ludvik Sigurjonsson, Saga Capital's CEO, went over the bank's operation during the last year and touched on the most significant aspects of the annual accounts. The bank's core operations made a satisfactory profit of almost ISK 18m, while income from commissions rose to almost ISK 400m, five times the previous year's figure. However, the bank's performance was mainly characterised by last year's precautionary contributions to the depreciation account, amounting to over ISK 1bn, along with one-off costs relating to the restructuring of Saga Capital last winter. The bank's equity base is ISK 3.9bn and its equity ratio is 36%, which is considerably more than the 16% minimum imposed by the Financial Supervisory Authority on commercial banks after the economic collapse.
Halldor Johannsson, Chairman of the Board of Saga Capital, said that last year had been a year of delays and uncertainty. He pointed out that other investment banks had broadened their activities after the economic collapse, but that the Board of Saga Capital had decided against such action and opted to maintain its original objective, whereby Saga Capital would operate only as an investment bank.
