About equity certificates

The equity certificate is the savings banks' equity instrument. Until 2009, the instrument was called a primary capital certificate. The primary capital certificate was introduced for the first time in 1988, and Sparebanken Møre og Eiker Sparebank were the first to issue primary capital certificates in the market.

Equity certificates and shares
The equity certificate has many similarities with shares. However, in terms of risk of loss, the two instruments differ from each other. In a private limited company, the shareholders own the entire equity, while there are two forms of equity in a savings bank with equity certificates. One is the primary fund, which is the equity that has been built up historically through the bank's profit creation. The other is the equity share capital, which consists of the equity certificate capital with any associated funds (equalisation fund and share premium fund). In a private limited company, a loss will eat directly into the shareholders' values, while it is the primary fund and possibly the equalisation fund that must cover losses in a savings bank. The equity certificate capital will only be deferred if the primary fund is lost.

Purchase and sale of equity certificates
Equity certificates are traded in the same way as shares. As a customer of Sparebanken Møre, you can trade equity certificates in your online bank or through one of our brokers.