COMMERCIAL BANKING: NOTES FOR THE TABLES

(1)

Before 31 December 1996 non-profit organisations were not treated as a separate customer group.
As of 31 December 1999:

ASSETS

1. Precious metals - previously reflected under item Cash, now included under Other assets.

2. Overnight loans and overnight deposits (as a claim to other credit institutions) are described as different instruments according to the new guidelines. Overnight deposits are included under Demand deposits. The previous guidelines reflected overnight loans only under Overdrafts.

3. Reverse repo agreements, previously reflected under item Securities, are considered to be similar to issued loans according to the new guidelines. Loan guaranteeing securities are reflected on the seller's (borrower's) balance sheet regardless of whether the ownership of the securities is transferred to the buyer (lender) or not. The securities buy/sellback agreements and securities lending agreements are similarly recognised. The new balance sheet format no longer contains the sub-item Reverse repurchase agreements.

4. The item Tangible fixed assets is supplemented with tangible fixed assets taken on lease under the terms of finance lease and building lease. The fixed assets acquired through the realisation of a pledge are not recognised on the balance sheet.

5. Dividend receivables - previously included under Accrued income and prepaid expenses, now under in item Other assets.

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

6. Overnight loans and overnight deposits (as a liability to other credit institutions) - the same principle holds as for assets.

7. Dividend payables - previously included under Accrued expenses and prepaid revenues, now reflected under item Other liabilities.

8. Previous item Capital unpaid (contra-liabilities account) was abolished due to a lack of need. The Commercial Code has been amended and share capital has to be fully paid by the time the increase of the share capital is entered in the Business Register.

The equity item Settlements with shareholders has lost its meaning and is out of use. Before 31 December 2000 national security funds were not separated from the non-budgetary funds of the central government

As of 31 January 2004:
1. Derivative securities - previously included under Other assets/Other liabilities, now reflected under Securities and Securities issued.
2. Investment properties - previously included under Other assets, now treated as a separate item.

As of 31 January 2006:
A new item, the 'Revaluation of loans', displays the revaluation of loans issued before 1 January 2006. It arises from the fact that the loans are measured at the amortised cost using the effective interest rate method (based on IAS 39 - International Accounting Standard).
Loans issued after 1 January 2006 are displayed in their respective items under the group 'Claims to customers', measured at the amortised cost using the effective interest rate method. The credit institutions that do not implement the effective interest rate for the amortisation of loans will continue to show their issued loans at their contractual value.

(2)

Here the loan portfolio is equal to the balance-sheet item Claims on customers although it also includes deposits in financial institutions.

(31)

As of 31 January 2004 securities issued include issued debt securities, derivatives and other liabilities related to securities. Prior to that date only issued debt securities were included.

(3)

Equity capital is not equivalent to Own funds. Own funds are calculated pursuant to the prudential ratios calculating guidelines (Eesti Pank Governor's Decree No 13 of 29 December 2006).

Own funds are comprised of own funds of the first level, own funds of the second level and own funds of the third level.
Own funds of the first level (Tier 1 own funds): share capital, general banking reserve, other reserves, retained profit/loss, the audited profit/unaudited loss of the financial year, own shares held (-) and intangible fixed assets (-).
Own funds of the second level (Tier 2 own funds): subordinated loans and other similar liabilities, other items of a capital nature with deductions (stocks and shares in other credit institutions and financial institutions).
Own funds of the third level (Tier 3 own funds): own funds to cover the risks associated with the trading book (subordinated loans and other similar liabilities).

As of 31 December 1999 the item Capital unpaid has been excluded as nonessential.

(4)

The item Commercial undertakings also includes companies belonging to state and local governments. The item Individuals includes natural persons and non-profit associations.

(5)

Foreign currency loans also include loans granted in Estonian kroons, the repayment of which is pegged to the exchange rate of a specific currency (e.g., the Euro).

(32)

When calculating loan turnovers, overdrafts are not included.

(6)

Short-term loans - loans with a maturity of less than a year.
Long term loans - loans with a maturity of over a year.
The terms are based on loan agreement maturities.

(7)

The breakdown is based on Estonia's industry classification used by the Statistical Office of Estonia.

(8)

First ranking mortgage - a mortgage encumbering an immovable, receiving the first ranking upon entry in the land register;
Other mortgage - a mortgage not receiving the first ranking upon entry in the land register;
Securities - a pledge of securities and securities as an object of buy/sellback agreements;
Pledge of building - a pledge established on a movable, notarised and registered in the State Building Register of the location or a pledge encumbering a building pursuant to the legislation in force before The Law of Property Act Implementation Act was enforced;
Pledge of other movable - a movable pledge, neither a building nor security, as provided for in The Law of Property Act.

(9)

The resource for special purpose loans comes from dedicated special purpose funds and the interest margins have set limits.

(10)

Housing loans also include loans granted to sole proprietorships providing real estate, leasing and business services.

(11)

As of 31 December 1999 securities reporting does not involve securities acquired through reverse repos (reverse repos are considered to be similar to loans).

(12)

All time-related deposits (i.e., time deposits, savings deposits, etc.) are included in the tables under Other deposits.

(13)

Short-term deposits - deposits with a maturity of less than a year.
Long-term deposits - deposits with a maturity of over a year.
The terms are based on loan agreement maturities.

(14)

Data series have been available as of 1 April 1997. It has been possible to calculate more specific interest rates ever since. Previously a 5 percentage points spread was used to calculate the weighted average interest rate, whereas now 0.1 percentage point preciseness is possible. When calculating the weighted average interest rates, loans granted at a zero interest rate are not included.

(15)

The interest rate calculation basis for time deposits also includes savings deposits.

(33)

Interest rates are not calculated when monthly loan turnover is less than EEK 10 mln.

(35)

As of October 2005 the interest rate statistsics on loans also include the data of the Baltic Investment Group Bank (BIG). BIG, which used to function as a finance company, has been holding an activity licence that allowsx it to operate as a credit institution since 28 September 2005.

(36)

Eesti Pank started to calculate the Tallinn Interbank Offered Rate (Talibor) and Tallinn Interbank Bid Rate (Talibid) on the basis of weekly quotes by the 5 largest banks on the market on 10 January 1996.
From 10 January 1996 to 26 August 1998 the quoted time periods were 1 week, 1 month ja 3 months;
from 2 September 1998 to 3 February 1999 - 1 month, 3 months and 6 months;
from 8 February 1999 to 29 June 2007 - 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months.
Starting from 2 July 2007 the quoted time periods include overnight, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months.

As of 8 February 1999 fixings have been made daily.

(16)

TALIBOR - Tallinn Interbank Offered Rate
TALIBID - Tallinn Interbank Bid Rate
Average interest rates are calculated on the basis of inter-bank offered rates and the bid rates of listed banks in quoted time periods.
As of 8 February 1999 the quoted time periods include one month, two months, three months, six months, nine months and twelve months. Eesti Pank fixes the rates each banking day at 11.00 am. Quotations by Hansapank, Eesti Ühispank, Sampo Pank, Nordea Bank Plc and Svenska Handelsbanken are used. Prior to the abovementioned date, fixings were made weekly, and the number of quoted time periods and listed banks was smaller.

(17)

The profit/loss report is quarterly and cumulative; i.e., for three, six, nine and twelve months of the current year.

(18)

Capital adequacy ratio
As of 1 October 1997 the minimum capital adequacy ratio is 10% (earlier - 8%). As of 1 July 1997 the risk weighting of local governments was raised to 100% (earlier - 50%). As of 1 July 1998 the interest position risk, equity risk and settlement risk of the trading portfolio are also taken into account in calculating capital adequacy apart from credit risk and foreign exchange risk. An additional capital requirement has been established for claims on high exposure customers.
Own funds
Own funds consist of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 own funds. Own funds of the first level (tier 1) consist of paid-up share capital, general banking reserves, other reserves, retained profit/loss, the audited profit/unaudited loss of the financial year, own shares held (-) and intangible fixed assets (-).
Own funds of the second level (tier 2) consist of subordinated loans and other similar liabilities, as well as other items of a capital nature with deductions (stocks and shares in other credit institutions and financial institutions).
Eesti Pank has set a minimum requirement for net own funds (as of 1 January 1998 - 75 million kroons). In calculating capital adequacy, liabilities exceeding risk exposure limits and investment restrictions are deduced from net own funds and tier 3 own funds are added: own funds are to cover the risk associated with the trading book (subordinated loans and other similar liabilities).

As of 1 July 2002 the calculation of the capital requirement against the foreign-exchange risk changed. The capital requirement against the foreign-exchange risk is calculated only in cases where the overall open net foreign exchange position exceeds 2% of the net own funds of the credit institution. In that case the capital requirement against the foreign-exchange risk is 10% of the overall open net foreign exchange position.

(19)

As of 1 July 1998 the previous liquidity ratio is no longer in force. A credit institution must now monitor its liquidity on a cash flow basis.

(20)

The following abbreviations are used in presenting various currencies:

(21)

An open net foreign exchange position is derived by adding the net foreign exchange position of forward, future and other off-balance sheet transactions and the margin of options' deltas to the balance sheet's net foreign exchange position.

The following limits exist for open positions in individual currencies:

B-zone countries - 5%,

A-zone currencies - 15%,

Latvian and Lithuanian currencies - 10% (up until 30.04.2004)

Since 1 July 2002 the Estonian kroon and the euro have not been treated as foreign currencies.

(34)

As of 31.08.1999 swap contracts are recognised (prior to that date they were included in Other off-balance sheet obligations).

(22)

Monetary Financial Institutions (MFI) - resident credit institutions as defined in the Credit Institutions' Act and all other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than MFIs, and, on their own account grant credit and/or make investments in securities. In Estonia, the sector consists of Eesti Pank, credit institutions, savings and loan associations, and money market funds which fulfill the criterias defined by the European Central Bank. A full list of Estonian MFIs is available at http://www.ecb.int/stats/money/mfi/elegass/html/index.en.html.
Up until December 2000 monetary aggregates included the deposits of other MFIs (i.e., savings and loan associations and money market funds) along with credit institutions and repos. This was due to the reporting rules in force before December 2000.
The item "Money on accounts held with Eesti Pank" comprises mainly of credit institutions' deposits of Estonian kroons held in Eesti Pank.

(23)

The settlement systems of Eesti Pank (DNS and RTGS) were launched on 21 January 2002.
As of 3 October 2005 Eesti Pank launched the interbank Settlement System of Ordinary Payments (ESTA), which is an updated version of the Designated-Time Net Settlement System (DNS) used so far.

(24)

As of January 2004 a large value payment is defined as a payment of EEK 15 million or more (prior to that it was EEK 1 million or more).
In order to avoid the double registration of domestic payments, only include the payments paid-in. Cross-border payments include payments payable as well as payments paid-in.

(25)

Payments initiated in cash are recorded under Cash.
Up until December 2003 all card payments were recognised as payments made by private persons. As of January 2004 card payment makers are divided into 2 groups - private persons and business customers.

(26)

The category Unidentified mostly includes payments initiated in cash.

(27)

In this table Resident and Non-resident refer to the location of the credit institution by whom the payment card has been issued.
Card transactions include card payments as well as cash withdrawals and down payments made in cash.
Since January 2004 debit and credit card transactions have been recognised separately.

(28)

Passive cards are cards with which no card transactions have been made during the reporting period.
Cards with a cash function are cards, which enable one to make only card transactions with a cash function at an ATM.
Cards with a debit/credit function are cards that can be used to carry out all types of card transactions.

(29)

An ATM with cross-usage is an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) by which both the cards issued by the credit institution administrating the ATM and the cards of other credit institutions can be used.
A point of sale (POS) is a location for the sale of goods and services where the goods and services can be paid for with a card. One point of sale can hold several POS-terminals.

(30)

The Table shows only electronically transferred payments.