Overall loan provisions have fallen in the fourth quarter at Norwegian lender DNB, but the figures were up for rigs and platform supply vessels (PSVs).
Impairments of financial instruments stood at NOK 235m ($27.48m) to 31 December, against NOK 402m in the same period of 2017, it said.
CFO Kjerstin Braathen said at a results briefing in London on Thursday that provisions and reversals mainly related to impairments in offshore, and write-backs for shipping.
"These are name-specific, rather than showing industry trends, and the results will vary from quarter to quarter," she added.
"Offshore is still going to be challenging , but we are comfortable with the reserves we have for that sector."
Impairments stay low
She described the overall provision figure as being at a low level in relation to its overall loan book.
Oil, gas and offshore operations contributed NOK 198m of the total, against reversals of NOK 500m in the third quarter.
The increase primarily resulted from revised impairment estimates on specific customers in stage 3, which means objective evidence of impairment, in this segment.
There were net reversals of NOK 147m within the shipping division, however, compared to provisions of NOK 261m in the third quarter.
This year's figure mostly related to specific customers in stage 2, which means a significant increase in credit risk, and stage 3.
"The macro drivers for the shipping portfolio were stable in the fourth quarter," DNB said.
Credit quality stable
The increase in individually assessed clients in stage 3 within rig and offshore supply vessels was to a certain extent curtailed by reversals within the shipping segment, it added.
"In general, the large corporates and international customers segment experienced stable credit quality and macro development in the quarter," DNB said.
Net stage 3 loans and financial commitments amounted to NOK 16bn at year-end.
The annual reversal of provisions was NOK 139m, compared to impairments of NOK 2.42bn in 2017.
Interest income reached NOK 9.75bn in the fourth quarter, from NOK 8.98bn a year ago.
Net profit was NOK 5.56bn, against NOK 5.62bn.
