Good morning, everybody, and thank you for listening in. Before I start, I just hope you are well in this pandemic testing time for us and that you and your families are doing well. So let's get into the presentation. Let's start off with the customers. Of course, the quarter was a new very strong quarter when it comes to new clients.
We added almost 80,000 new clients in the quarter, and we have added 218,000 new clients for the full year of 20 20. And that means that we now have surpassed 1,200,000 clients on the platform. But also to note is that we have a churn of 1.3, which means that on average, our clients actually will be on the platform for 77 years, if you do the math on that. And we can also show that we have still strong customer satisfaction, strong growth in also, of course, helped over recognizing us as the number one choice for the clients. We have also in the quarter, which I believe we have enhanced number of clients also made it easier to become a client and less friction in registration on the platform.
If you go to the next which is, I believe, very important going forward because the net inflow is, of course, what creates good things in the P and L for us. We had so far this year $57,600,000,000 in net inflows. And that's you compare that with 'nineteen, which we had $32,600,000,000 for the full year, and 2019 was the best year ever and the first time we came over SEK 30,000,000,000 So the net inflows has been fantastic so far. And for the quarter, we had SEK 16,300,000,000 So very strong net inflows continuing throughout the quarter. Also, when you look at the net inflows, 61% of the net inflow for the quarter was slide for us because we are in the business of gaining market share in the Swedish savings market.
And if you look at this, you can see on a rolling 12 month basis, we have almost 20% of the net inflows in the Swedish savings market. That means that 1 out of 5 kronas will end up on the Vansa platform on a 12 month basis. 2nd quarter was the best second quarter ever with 14.6% of the net inflows. The reason for the Q2 always being a bit lower is that there are flows into the savings market that is not addressable for Avanza, but we're still very happy with the figure of 14.6% and that we are taking 1 out of 5 new crowns. And our market market share is, of course, 4.9%, and that's the target to grow that.
And since we are gaining market share when it comes to net inflows, a lot above our market share of 4.9%. We know that we are taking market share as we're speaking. Going to the next slide. Of course, we haven't shown this before, so this is a new slide. It's about monthly saving and premium in the pension company being paid in.
We have increased monthly savings in mutual fund with 39% compared to a year ago, and we are now getting almost $700,000,000 or $680,000,000 every month in monthly savings In combination with the net inflows of pension premiums in the pension company, which is up to almost $250,000,000 a month, we are gaining almost SEK 900,000,000 a bit more than SEK 900,000,000 every month as getting net inflows a little bit more automatically on the platform. And this is something we are focused on. We have made improvements in the mobile apps to encourage our customers and inspire our customers to do more monthly savings, and it seems like it's paying off. Next slide is the market shares on the stock exchange. Now we have almost 20% of all transaction on NASDAQ or Mexic First North are done through our platform.
And we are the only one who actually gaining market share if you look at the competitors. We also surpassed SEB now, and we are almost 10% of the turnover of the stock exchange go through our systems, so to speak. And that's an interesting fact also because we don't have the institutional trading, which, of course, is a large part of the turnover. But on the retail side, we are gaining market share. We are performing quite well.
We are Of course, we can see activity record high. We of course, we can see activity record high. We have 160,000 more customers year to date generating brokerage income. We have monthly savings totally up 26% year to date and growth on the savings capital is stronger growing with income. And I always speak about that, that the more capital we gain in AUM, which now has surpassed SEK 500,000,000,000, the more good things will happen the P and L over time.
So more AUM will drive income for Avanza, and I think we've proven that during this year. But of course, still always key for success for us is the employee engagement that we are still operating with a lot a fantastic way, and I'm very proud of our employees who is handling this situation without delays in our innovation or out any hiccups in the processes that we have. And also, of course, we are changing our back office system, which is a project we have taken on right now that will consume some resources from now during 2021. But I believe we can manage that in a good way, and we will still be able to innovate with new fantastic features for our clients. And with those words, I will turn over to Birgitte.
Thank you, Rickett. And as always, we start with a financial overview. And as Rickett said, the customer activity has continued in a strong pace in Q3, and it's the strongest quarter in Avanx's history. As always, costs are seasonally low in Q3, but at the same time, the revenues were record high. All revenue lines improved.
The revenues for the first nine months almost doubled from last year. Operating profit increased compared to Q2 and for the 9 month period almost tripled compared to last year. Operating profit for the quarter even exceeds the profit for the whole 9 month period last year. Consequently, the operating margin for Q3 is still at a high level at 69% and 66% for the year to date. Income per savings capital for per to bps, in line with the best international peers in the industry.
It looks like we will achieve this already this year. Due to the continued high revenues in the quarter, return on equity for Q3 was 55% and earnings per share were SEK2.15. If we look at the revenues, they were, as said, improved and up 84% compared to last year. Net brokerage income was a record high in Q3 and more than doubled compared to last year. The increase in brokerage income compared to the strong Q2 was mainly a result of 7.5 more trading days in the quarter, although number of commission generating notes per trading day was also higher as was the turnover.
Brokerage income per sector turnover increased slightly to 11.4 basis points And I will come back to brokerage in the next couple of slides. Fund commissions increased mainly due to higher average fund capital. We have seen a strong fund inflow also in this quarter. Customers also have a slightly smaller share of index and fixed income funds, which increased income per seck of fund capital to 35 bps, although it was stable at 34 bps for the 9 month period. NII was only slightly higher than in Q2, mainly as a result of higher margin lending volume, but higher mortgage volume also contributed somewhat.
Return on surplus liquidity decreased as a result of affect income on surplus liquidity negatively when the bonds mature and new bonds are bought. Compared to last year, NII increased mainly due to better return on surplus liquidity as the rep rate was raised by 25 bps in January 2020, but also due to larger volumes. Higher lending volumes also contributed positively together with rate hikes in connection with the increased repo rate. Other income is also very much affected by customer activity, where FX income even increased from Navansa Markets decreased slightly due to lower trading volumes and transactions, and revenues from corporate finance is seasonally low in Q3, but we saw the activity picking up in September. So if we go back a little bit deeper into the brokerage, net brokerage development is, of course, connected to the last year's market volatility and higher overall turnover on the stock exchange.
But also as Rick had mentioned, our market share on NASDAQ and First North have increased. As seen in this graph, number of commission generating customers had a very strong development during the number almost doubled, a trend that actually started in 2015 when we got a negative interest rate for the first time in the history. The aftermath of COVID-nineteen is, of course, hard to predict, and it's not unusual for customer activity to slow off the great turbulence in the market as the market stabilizes. However, as a result of the strong growth in 2020, our view is that our lowest level has been raised. As seen in this graph, net brokerage is strongly correlated with Avanza's turnover on NASDAQ and First North.
Even though foreign trading is not included, it is still a very good indicator of brokerage it is still a very good indicator of brokerage development. During the years, brokerage per set of turnover has been stable, but increased slightly the last year. This is a result of higher share share of brokerage income generated in lower brokerage fee classes, in line with the strong customer growth just shown. The share of brokerage income of brokerage income generated by private banking and pro cap customers who pay a lower brokerage fee accounted in the 1st 9 months of 2020 for 20% of the income compared to 26% in the 1st 9 months last year. This tells us that the increased trading is spread over a large number of individuals, which is according to our strategy to be relevant to larger customer groups.
This also confirms our view of having raised the bar as long as we keep our customers satisfied and make sure that they have no reason to leave. If we look a little bit on the expenses as well, operating expenses are seasonally lower in Q3 due to lower personnel costs. Marketing costs increased as as a result of new lease agreement and thus to higher write down of the leased assets. Other expenses increased mainly due to costs associated with the moving into new facilities and due to higher costs for IT. Total moving costs amounted to $13,000,000 compared to previously estimated $11,000,000 Moving costs are partly in effect of double rent from June to September.
As previously stated, the estimated growth for 2020 of 12% includes neither these extraordinary costs associated with the move nor the write down of lease assets of SEK 8,300,000 which we made in end of 2019. The cost increase for the full year is estimated at 12% and the long term cost of revenues was generated in the bank where the ordinary corporate tax rate applies, in contrast with the insurance company where most revenues are taxed according to the laws for life insurance company. Our capitalization is strong with a total ratio of 18.7% compared with the requirements of 12%, including all buffers as well as Pillar 2 requirements. This improvement from June is mainly due to a new issue in connection with the exercise of warrants in the quarter. Stated earlier, our capitalization planning is mainly dependent on the regulatory requirement for the leverage ratio of 3% that will be affected in June next year.
To maintain a satisfactory margin to the requirement, regardless of the market conditions, the Board yesterday resolved that the internal leverage ratio target will be 3.8%. The Tier 1 capital therefore, has to be strengthened by €750,000,000 to €850,000,000 The Board decided to handle this by lowering the dividend ratio for 2020. This should be seen as a one off and the dividend policy to distribute at least 70% of the net profit lower dividend ratio or by issuing additional Tier 1 capital. Lower dividend ratio or by issuing additional Tier 1 capital. Due to strong results, but also the pandemic and the prevailing uncertainty when it comes to regulators' view on dividends, we assess lowering the dividend as the right way to go.
This gives us room for maneuver going forward and at the same time we take the dividend debate into consideration and achieve the regulatory requirements. In the quarter, the leverage ratio was positively affected by customers' lower liquidity. And with that, Ricard, I think we can open up for questions.
Absolutely.
Thank you. And our first question comes from the line of Patrick Brotteus of ABG. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question SEK 750,000,000 to SEK 850,000,000, is that from the Q3 reported base level you talk about?
Well, that is what we see that we will have to increase the capital base by the end of this year or at the latest by June next summer.
Okay. And I understand. And my second question is to regards to this as well. And how do you view your future capital structure now? Like how come you haven't chose to issue any 81 capital since this decision with lowering your payout ratio, one can argue that this leads to an inefficient capital structure and it would be more shareholder friendly to issue AT1 capital?
Well, that, of course, can be discussed. And as we see it right now, Avanza was the only bank in 2020 that actually made a dividend payout. And we have seen that there are some uncertainties on how the regulators will look at the dividend payouts for the next year as well. So we decided that we believe it's better for us not to issue an AT1 instrument now and be and then have to also not paying out any dividend and then being with too much capital on our balance sheet. In this way, we can still maneuver.
And if we decide in the future that we would like to increase the dividend and issue an AT1 instrument, we can still do so. Okay.
Yes. Then I understand. Then my third and last question is regard to the securities lending. Is still the plan to launch this during 2020? And is still the guidance of SEK 20,000,000 to SEK 30,000,000 as an extra return for this program during the 1st year?
Or has this changed on the back of the strong customer inflow you've seen?
No. We're actually launching it today.
Okay. So we're launching it today and we have no news on the Prognox revenues or No, they stand.
Okay, that sounds.
We will see that's what fair.
Our next question comes from the line of Nicholas McBee of BNP. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Thanks. So yes, a follow-up question please on the dividend for 2020, how we should think about the payout ratio. Should we think that everything you earning net income on top of the SEK750 to SEK850 will be distributed? Or do you still need to return earnings on top of that due to kind of normal growth in the balance sheet? If you could just clarify that, please.
Well,
I would say that anything that exceeds SEK 850,000,000 is for the Board of Directors to be able to propose to the shareholders to pay out as a dividend. So it's, of course, what we plan for by the end of the year. So that is the amount that actually are discussable or up for discussion how high the dividend will be.
Okay. But should we think about everything on top of 8.60% and then apply a normal 70% payout ratio on that? Or how should we think about that?
That's something that I cannot comment right now. What I can say is that we need to have at least 1 $800,000,000 or if you take the top of it and say, we need to have $850,000,000 more in own capital. Anything above that is up for discussion to for payout. And I cannot comment on whether that should be 70% or 100% of that or something in between.
Okay. And the SEK 850,000,000, is that to follow-up on the earlier question, is that compared to the Q3 level?
That is compared that is for the full year. Okay.
And then yes, a question please on the brokerage fees. You mentioned there is a kind of mix effect with broader trading. But if I look on the gross or also on the net commission income per trade, that's actually down a bit now, yes, in Q2 both if we look year on year or yes, compared to the recent Is that due to lower ticket sizes? Or are customers optimizing their pricing plans better to achieve lower pricing? Or yes, what's your take on that?
Yes, I would say that it's lower ticket size.
Okay.
And then could you say anything about what do you think about brokerage expenses from here? Do you see any potential to reduce your brokerage expenses per trade given the increasing volumes you see going through your platform on the NASDAQ?
Since we have customers who like us, we have customer satisfaction in place, we have increasing market shares, it seems that our customers are getting value for money. So we don't have any plans to reduce any prices at the moment. But who knows? That's something we always debate within the company. But at the moment, I don't see that coming.
Yes. Okay. That's good. But I was actually thinking more about your costs relative to the trading platforms. You could say anything about how these costs are structured, because I would think that the higher volumes that you get, there should be a potential to reduce your cost to Nasdaq, yes, in absolute terms or per trade, if you could say anything about that potentially, if you see any changes in that in the future?
Well, I would say that we have an agreement with Nasdaq with that's the latter. And for every new trade that we do, on the I mean, we are already on the top of that ladder, so the prices are as low as it gets. Of course, as we could always negotiate with the NASDAQ, but I would say that we have to pay very small fees for every extra trade right now.
Okay. And then yes, you're right a bit about the kind of new rules for pension transfers in the report with the cap on how much it can cost to transfer occupational pensions in the future.
Say. I mean, pension is very slow moving. And even though the cost for moving a pension insurance will be lower to I mean, very acceptable levels in from 1st April next year. It's hard to predict what number that would be in net inflow for us. But of course, we will make sure that we will be a very good partner for those who want to transfer their insurances.
Absolutely. I think that the good news is the legislation. The bad news is that the administration around moving pension is still going to be a hassle to a lot of clients. But of course, we see the opportunity. We will market ourselves.
We will try to grab the opportunity. But so but at the same time, it's we still think we have a great offering. We have no capital fees. We have an extremely high variety investment opportunity in our pensions. Of course, we will, in the beginning of next year, talk a lot about that with our clients and inspire them to move the pension to us.
But I don't think it will be like opening the floodgates or anything like that. But on the margin, of course, it's a very good opportunity for Alansa.
Okay. Thanks. And then a related question here on Slide number 5, as you showed the monthly savings. If you could just clarify what that monthly is that monthly savings going into your pension company? Or what does it refer to?
And then because I noticed your occupational pension inflows are still around SEK1 1,000,000,000 per quarter. It hasn't changed that much. So if you could also clarify what where do you see this increase coming from on that you highlight on that slide?
And you said the increase is especially high in monthly savings in mutual fund in the more of ISK RAP and not the pension. That's just normal customers who take a few thousand of their salary and put it on a mutual fund on the platform automatically. The rest, the EUR 243,000,000 almost EUR 50,000,000 is the premium being paid in. And that is that has been growing, but not in the same pace as the monthly savings.
Okay. So that's also mutual that's not only that slide is not only showing the occupational pension. It's more like, yes, mutual funds and pension. So basically, all savings excluding shares and securities, I guess.
Yes. You could say that it's all savings that people more or less automatically do every month.
Okay. Okay. And then, yes, my final question on the capital, because, yes, I saw that your CET1 capital and your total capital, I think it increased by just above €100,000,000 Q on Q. And that's despite kind of the strong earnings in Q3 and your decision to reduce the payout and also the exercise of warrants. And then also, I think you had around CHF 500,000,000 in profits not audited in Q2, which I would have thought would have been included in the capital this quarter.
So yes, I guess my question is why did the capital not increase more in the quarter? And if you could clarify, please, how much you have accrued of earnings so far in the capital?
Well, we haven't included any of this year's revenue or profits in the capital base. So you can see that the capital base always at the same size as it was by the end of June, and the only difference is that we had an issue of SEK 100,000,000 connected to the warrants that were exercised in August, September. So since we are in a bit of a period where we cannot put in a correct figure for the dividend, we decided to not include any of the profits and not deduct the assumed payout. So that's why the capital base has no increase of this year's profit.
Okay, okay. And the reason for that is because you don't know about the dividend. So you think it's more prudent to okay. Yes.
It's a very special year. So we decided to not include the profits, and therefore, we don't have to take any assumption by the dividend. Dividend.
Our next question comes from the line of Robin Rona of Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi there. Good morning. So a couple of follow-up questions, I guess. So first, a clarification. So the Tier one capital at the end of the Q3 was SEK 1529 1,000,000.
So the SEK 750,000,000 to SEK 850,000,000 is on top of this figure. Am I have I understood it correctly then?
Well, that figure, you have to add the profits that we actually have done for the 1st 9 months and then deduct the SEK 850,000,000 in order to see what can be paid out. But then again, we have a 4th quarter as well that probably will give us some more increased profits. So yes, you could say that the anything earned above €850,000,000 plus the Q4 results is what the Board will have to decide on whether they should pay out or not.
Okay. Excellent. And then the leverage ratio target of 3.8%, how should we think about that going forward? Is that should we think about that as a minimum or a a target where you can be which you can be around? Or yes, how should we think about that one?
That is a target. That is not a minimum. So the minimum is, of course, 3%. And then we have different kind of internal risk appetites the Board, of course, in order to never be below 3%. But the 3.8%, you should see as our target where we would like to be.
Okay. So if we would end up a year of, say, at say, 3.6%, you would not automatically decrease the payout ratio in a normal year?
No, we would not. You could view the 3.8%, be it as it's a target. If we 1 quarter, 1 month are at 3.7 and we know why we are there and what actions could be done to increase it, then we will probably be comfortable with it.
Okay. All right. And then a question on the fund revenues. So we've seen, for example, in Norway, Nordnet and Espanken going forward to a platform fee rather than gathering the distribution fees from the fund companies. How do you think about this?
Is this something that you think we'll see more of in Sweden as well going forward and perhaps also from Mannvansa? Or how do you think about that?
We look at that question, of course. We are prepared to change our business model to competitive reasons or regulatory reasons. We don't see that we need to do that right now, but we are prepared and we believe that we will be able to do that in a constructive way. So it's nothing that I lose any sleep over. We are prepared to change if the market changes.
Okay. All right. I think that was all from me this morning. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next
I just have 3 clarifications. One, Likert, you mentioned systems work. I just wanted to understand this. Are you talking about some kind of fundamental change of the back end systems? Or is this just part of your systems development?
I would say it's a bit of a bigger bite this time. We are changing the back office system within the company. We are moving from one system to another and the reason for and that will give us even better prerequisites for future innovation. We were done with that project. So we always from time to time have a smaller challenges and larger challenges.
And now we are doing a little bit larger moving from one back office systems to
another. Okay. And time wise, is this will you do this then 2021? Or is this already now 2021?
We already
signed the
project internal work, but we will finalize it in 2021.
Okay. Perfect. But that's also because you reiterated your guidance of the 9% to 12% cost increases, so presumably this is included
in that? Well, actually, I mean, we as I said, we state our 9% to 12 cost guidance. And of course, we are now entering into a new budget season. So if there will be any changes to we will come back to that in the Q4 report.
Okay. Then just a general question on cost. I mean, as you mentioned, we get you're down to 16 basis points on cost of savings capital, best in class, almost however you measure it. Is it possible? Or is it even desired to go below that?
And decide, I mean I
think absolutely, it's possible and I absolutely think it's wise to go below that because that gives us room for being more aggressive when it comes to the prices that we have for our customers. So I mean, depending on how things moves in the future, I definitely think we could lower that in order to be more harder to compete with.
Okay. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Final one on the revenue side.
I think you said a few times that back port in the future will be better than a bad one in the look and also looking at the turnover. Are you and also looking at the turnover. Are you expecting here that the sort of the income to savings capital is higher than in the past? Or are you or we simply talking about that's probably the same, but as turnover is reducing, you have a bigger share in the future. So margin wise, it's probably what it has been before.
But what we should be looking for, for kind of some normalization is trading patterns, not how much you make per trade.
I would say that, I mean, we have seen a very strong or I mean, the income per turnover kroner has been very, very I mean, at the same level for a very long time. But if you look at their brokerage, mean, that is hard to predict. But I would say at the total revenues per savings capital, I definitely believe decreasing the cost per savings capital. It's in order to be even more competitive when it comes to pricing.
Okay. So for us, when we can model this, I guess, no one knows when the market has been normalized, but at some point, probably will. And then we should see it coming down.
Yes. But at the same time, we have 117,000 clients generating brokerage more than we had a year ago. And of course, if market goes down, all of them will not stop trading, and people are getting interested in the financial markets. So even though we will have more boring times in the future, I'm absolutely convinced we will perform at a higher level. And of course, the most important thing for me is, of course, the AUM, which surpassed €500,000,000 because the more AUM we have, the more things happen in the P and L.
And if it's a brokerage or people are getting more passive and moving into mutual funds, that's okay. We will make money on that also. So we are a scalable company. More assets, more AUM will create a more resilient P and L.
Okay. Okay. Yes, it makes sense. Thank you very much. That's all for me.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mats Liliro of SEB. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Yes, good morning. And just a few short follow ups for me. You mentioned in the report that 70 percent of trades are done in the mobile app now. I assume that is in terms of number of transactions. You are correct.
That's number of transactions in the mobile phone. I
You are correct. That's number of transactions in the mobile phone. I don't have the figure for volumes.
Okay. But it's still very high.
But it's higher than you would expect, but it's probably something below SEK 70,000,000.
Okay. Yes. And then another quick one, I guess. Currency related income up by 167% or 167%. I know a big part is probably just due to higher activity, but are there any other special drivers in that increase?
In the FX increase?
Yes, in the income from currency related income.
No, I mean, if you look at our trading, I think 13% of total trading was in foreign markets. So that's combination with brokerage and FX adjusting group increased. And of course, things like Tesla and so forth, of course, generated a lot of trading in the U. S. Market, and that, of course, is good for the FX income.
Okay. Yes. Thanks. That's all for me, I think.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Adela Dhanian of Handelsbanken. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi, good morning, everyone. Most of my questions have already been asked and answered, but I do have a question on activity levels going forward. Could you give us an indication of how that has progressed over the last 3 weeks? I mean, are you starting to see a slowdown from the very high levels that you've experienced thus far in the year? Or is this strong momentum holding up?
No, I mean, you have the figure for the stock exchange. I mean, the turnover is still high, activity is still high. That's on the comment I can say.
As I've shown in my graph, you can very easily predict our brokerage revenues. If you follow the turnover that we have on First North and Nasdaq, you can see the activity level there and you can predict the brokerage revenue pretty close.
Perfect. That's all
Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Hi. Again, a short follow-up from my side. So you talked about the churn of customers. I think it was 1.3%. How do you define this?
So is this customers actively closed down their accounts or just customers that are inactive but still have their accounts and have no assets or very low assets on their accounts? Thanks.
These are customers that actually have left Avant and have no savings on their accounts anymore.
And a part of those clients are actually deceased.
Okay. All right. But I would suspect that many clients that maybe leave Avanza for another platform maybe does not actively close down their account, but leave it and just move their savings. Is this something that you follow as well?
Well, if they have their account still have their account, doesn't matter. It's what we calculate on when they move all their savings. But of course, there are customers that have savings numbers Those numbers, I don't have. The numbers we have is the customers that decided to take all their savings from the platform. And as Rykals said, that's mainly when you actually disease.
So take all the savings from the platform and close down the account or just take all the
savings from
the platform?
No, they
don't have to close down the account. When they move their savings, all their savings. When their AUM is 0.
Okay, okay. Well, that's But
that's very, very seldom. We actually follow when people move out money. Mostly, we talk to our clients since usually real estate investment, helping kids or consumption. It's very seldom somebody leaves us for another platform.
Okay. Excellent. Well, thank you very much.
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Nicholas McBib of DNB. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.
Just one or two follow-up questions from me. Because I've been asking about this for the past few quarters to you, Rick and I think you kind of answered it like let's wait and see. But now again in this quarter, you have a very high operating margin. It's 69%, which is way above your target level. And yes, I mean, it seems like based on the comments you're making now, you think that the lowest level has been raised and so forth.
So could you say anything about how you view this margin now compared to your target of having a 50% profit margin? Are you approaching the level or the point in time where you feel confident that the operating margin has been raised sustainably and that you maybe want to invest more into the customers? Yes, please update on that.
Well, Niklas, maybe I'll give you the same answer again. Let's wait and see. But I would say that, of course, if we see these margins that we have seen for the first three quarters being sustainable, I would answer it like this. That's a factor that we are addressing in our business plan for next year.
Okay. And what kind of tools do you think you would look to use if you wanted to address this? Is it more on the cost base? Or is it more pricing or something else?
You have 2 options basically. Either we can lower prices and make sure that we get more growth out of that or we could invest more in people. That would mean that we could develop and innovate more. And you can also do a combination of those 2. And that's the I think that's how we address it.
Okay. And the new business plan, will you communicate We also have marketing. Yes. And the new business plan, will you can you say something about when you will you comment on that in the Q4 report and the strategy for 2021 then? Or yes, when will we get to know more about that?
I think you will get more information when we release the Q4 result. As always, we have last couple of years guided 9% to 12%, but we also added an action number with our cost budget like we did this year. So we will be more precise when we come to Q4, how we view 2021.
Yes, when it comes to cost.
When it comes to cost.
Whether we would lower our prices or do anything on that part. As you know, we never tell anything before we do it. So that depends on what's happening like next year. Absolutely.
Yes. And could you say anything about how you use the cost outlook already now? I mean, given the very strong growth in customers and the high activity, should we you think it's reasonable to expect maybe costs in the higher end of the guidance for 2021?
It's too early days to answer that honestly. We're right we just kicked off our, so to speak, cost budget process and looking what the needs are within the organization for 2021. So I wouldn't want to comment on that because it's too early days.
Okay, perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. There are currently no further questions. I will now hand back to the speakers.
Okay. Thank you for listening in, and I wish you all a great week.
Thank you.