OREANDA-NEWS. On 19 August 2009 AS LTB Bank (hereinafter also – “the Bank”) informed about its current position in financial markets in the time of global economic and financial systems changes.

On March 31, 2009 the Bank took 14th place by total assets and 12 place by equity among Latvian banks and foreign banks’ branches, out of a total 27 banks.

Audit Company "Ernst & Young Baltic" prepared the report for the financial statements of 2008 and in addition, an extended message according to International Standard on Related Services 4400 – commentary to analyse all essential risks which are specific to the Bank’s activity. The annual report 2008 and information about risk-management are available at the Bank’s web-site www.ltblv.com .

In April 2009 AS LTB Bank set in place correspondent relations with one of the biggest banks in the world - BNP Paribas (France), extended its correspondents’ web with payments in euro and US dollars (payments to the EU countries only) providing to clients a wide choice of options to process payments, conveniently and quickly.

Despite the existing problems in financial and economic sectors worldwide, the Bank differs from the other credit organizations, particularly in Latvia.

- Bank is minimally integrated in the Latvian economy – the Bank’s share at the credit market is 0.001%. It makes the Bank less subjected to come down in complicated economic situations

- The Bank had no need to borrow funds, in contrast with the other banks, thus, it means AS LTB Bank doesn’t have problems with international liabilities restructuring;

- The Bank has a high capital adequacy ratio - 62,0% (on 31/03/2009) In comparison, at the end of the March the capital adequacy average ratio in Latvian banks was 11.4%.

- The Bank continuously keeps a high liquidity ratio - 100%, and it essentially exceeds the liquidity ratio - 30% which is set by banking standards. High liquidity is a result of conservative strategy provided by asset liability management – the Bank invests borrowed funds in high liquid assets such as short-term placements (mainly, on demand) to the credit institutions with high credit ratios assigned by international rating agencies; and uses risk-diversification principle the same time.

AS LTB Bank is one of the oldest banks in Latvia, 100% of its equity is owned by MDM Bank. In December 2008, the shareholders of MDM Bank and URSA Bank, Open Joint Stock Company (hereinafter also – URSA Bank) announced their intention to combine their equity stakes into a holding company to create one of the leading private commercial banks in the Russian Federation. Two strong and highly reputable banks will merge as a result of the rigorous strategic analysis. This decision will provide both of these banks with an even stronger foundation from which to implement their long-term plans.

In August the legal process of URSA Bank and MDM Bank merging is planned to be finished. Using the combined experience of both banks, threats which could appear during reorganization process will be minimized. As a result the united bank will be strongly effect by the virtue of the values of both banks, complementing each other in harmony.

As a result of merging, the Bank will obtain the following advantages:

- the biggest universal private bank in Russia,

- leading bank in private sector and in corporative banks markets

- diversified business-structure and income structure

- stable and well-diversified shareholders base

- stronger foundation to long-term developing strategy

After URSA Bank and MDM Bank merging, in the upcoming period the Bank will continue operating within the scope of the parent bank’s strategies, providing high-quality financial services and risk balance, combining the best European bank business standards, market understanding and individual attitude to clients.