The board of directors of Sparebanken Vest proposed increasing its dividend to 4.50 Norwegian kroner per equity certificate from 1.10 kroner per certificate in 2015, the bank said Feb. 1.

The proposed increase follows a year-over-year rise in pretax profit to 1.95 billion kroner in 2016 from 1.39 billion kroner in 2015. Net interest income ticked up to 2.39 billion kroner from 2.35 billion kroner.

As of Feb. 1, US$1 was equivalent to 8.25 Norwegian kroner.