Finanstilsynet carried out on-site supervision of DNB Bank ASA's personal-market mortgage business (forretningsområde Personmarked, PM) (EAD 1 073 billion kroner, 1 007 billion in mortgages)
Finanstilsynet plus documentation on Wealth Management (WM) mortgages. The inspection took place on 2 and 4 December 2025; the final report of 16 September 2026 builds on the April preliminary report and the board's June comments. It covers serviceability testing, debt-ratio calculation, IRB use, automated granting, governance and consumer protection.
On serviceability the findings are sharpest. Under utlånsforskriften § 5 no loan may be granted unless the customer retains sufficient funds for normal living expenses after a three-percentage-point rate rise on total debtFinanstilsynet, subject to a floor rate of at least seven per cent. Finansavtaleloven § 5-4 adds that a lender may enter a consumer credit agreement only where the credit assessment makes sufficient credit capacity on the offered terms probable. DNB stress-tests all debt against a three-point rise over one fixed market-tracking rateFinanstilsynet, without using the customer's individually offered rateFinanstilsynet — understating the burden for customers offered a higher rate. Finanstilsynet deems this non-compliantFinanstilsynet: the bank must use the offered rate in the stress testFinanstilsynet. DNB says the actual rate will be used, but only within modernised processes; Finanstilsynet follows up separately.
The bank also converts all debt to a standard long annuity maturityFinanstilsynet, even where its own systems hold the correct remaining maturity or a statutory maturity applies — studiegjeld normally repays within 20 years under utdanningsstøtteloven § 8. Eighteen reviewed cases had granted maturities below the assumed standardFinanstilsynet. Available or statutory maturities must be used so costs are not underestimatedFinanstilsynet. In debt-ratio calculations the bank counts gross rental income with no allowance for periods when a let property stands emptyFinanstilsynet, which risks overstating incomeFinanstilsynet — a practice the bank must changeFinanstilsynet. The debt-ratio ceiling itself is five times annual income under utlånsforskriften § 6.
On capital models, DNB has held IRB permission since 2007, yet PD appears in decision notes only implicitly through risk classFinanstilsynet, at a more aggregated level than the granularity behind capital requirements. Finanstilsynet expects the parameters to appear transparently and uniformly, with a clearer account of how they feed the grant decisionFinanstilsynet. For large exposures serviced by dividends from borrower-owned companies, granting must rest on serviceability rather than collateralFinanstilsynet.
Automated granting must meet the same assessment requirements with reviewable documentationFinanstilsynet, and control capacity must keep pace with the digital strategy. The bank must implement the independent risk function's measuresFinanstilsynet, add quantitative tolerances and tighter key-control follow-up to reporting, and keep under review whether the internal valuer function has sufficient resources.
Consumer protection fails on two fronts. Complaint routines breach finansavtaleloven § 3-53Finanstilsynet — no coverage of conflicts of interest or clear-language communicationFinanstilsynet — and sampling found undocumented receipts and replies after 51 and 17 daysFinanstilsynet. Defaulted-customer follow-up falls short of EBA guidelines EBA/GL/2024/10Finanstilsynet: personal contact starts no earlier than day 40Finanstilsynet, a third of sampled cases lack documented contact attemptsFinanstilsynet, referrals to public support such as NAV counselling are undocumentedFinanstilsynet, and outsourced collection (one inkassoforetak from 1 October 2025Finanstilsynet, transfer the day after first missed instalmentFinanstilsynet) runs with no written oversight routines or samplingFinanstilsynet — while responsibility stays with the bankFinanstilsynet.
Finanstilsynet asks for a status report on the cited matters per 31 March 2027 on form KRT-1060 in AltinnFinanstilsynet (ref. 25/11460, field 2.2)Finanstilsynet; the bank must also send its auditor a copy of the supervisory letterFinanstilsynet.
Legal basis: utlånsforskriften §§ 5 and 6; finansavtaleloven §§ 5-4 and 3-53; finansforetaksloven § 13-5; EBA/GL/2024/10; Finanstilsynet's supervisory report on DNB Bank ASA of 16 September 2026 (ref. 25/11460).
Banks granting Norwegian mortgages: stress-test serviceability against the rate actually offered to the customer, use known or statutory remaining maturities, and haircut rental income for vacancy — and calendar DNB's 31 March 2027 status-report format (KRT-1060) as a template for supervisory follow-up.
