OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2010. During the 2nd quarter of 2010, Latvia's economy continued to experience a gradual recovery. A growth in the export and manufacturing sectors already began during the 2nd half of 2009, and during the first two quarters of this year, the trade sector also experienced a gradual increase in turnover. Although the country is still in the initial phase of its post-crisis recovery, it can be expected that Latvia's economy will continue to grow during the 2nd half of 2010, reported the press-centre of DnB NORD Banka.

The positive trends in Latvia's economy have also been reflected in the operations of DnB NORD Banka.
 
Overview of the results of the bank's operational activities
The revenues of DnB NORD Banka from its basic activities reached LVL 24.8 million during the first half of 2010. DnB NORD Banka continued to implement measures for attaining increased cost effectiveness. The bank reduced its operational costs by 8% to LVL 11.3 million during the 1st half of this year, compared to the corresponding period in 2009.

The operating profits of DnB NORD Banka before provisions and taxes reached LVL 13.4 million during the first six months of 2010. 

During the 2nd quarter of this year the bank made net provisions in the amount of LVL 15.4 million. The bank's losses after provisions and taxes were LVL 15.7 million at the close of the quarter. The capital base of DnB NORD Banka was increased by LVL 14.2 million during the period.

The total assets of DnB NORD group in Latvia reached LVL 1.9 billion during the 1st half of 2010. The net loan portfolio of DnB NORD group decreased by 3.6% compared to the beginning of this year, and amounted to LVL 1.530 billion.

At the end of the first half of 2010, the deposit portfolio DnB NORD group reached LVL 436.3 million, or 12.8% more than at the beginning of the year.

The competitiveness of DnB NORD Banka in the Latvian banking sector is attested to by the continued growth in the number of the bank's customers. During the first half of 2010, DnB NORD Banka gained 875 corporate customers and almost 6000 new individual customers.

Andris Ozolins, CEO of DnB NORD Banka, explains: "I am pleased that during the complicated economic situation DnB NORD Banka has succeeded in acquiring and even strengthening the trust of Latvian people and companies in the bank. It is proved by both continuous increase of the number of customers and the growth of amount of deposits."

During the first six months of this year, the volume of newly issued loans reached LVL 54.7 million. The amount of loans to companies has increased significantly in comparison to the respective period in 2009 – in the H1 of 2010 it has reached LVL 41.4 million which is almost four times more than in H1 of 2009 (LVL 10.2 million). Loans of LVL 11.7 million were issued to private individuals.
 
New products and services
During the 1st half of 2010, DnB NORD Banka continued to work on the establishment of new financial products and services, and to upgrade its existing services.

In cooperation with Galactico, which owns Latvia's largest chain of trade centres, DnB NORD Banka has released a new Galactico VISA payment card, which also serves as a loyalty card in all of this chain's shopping malls in Riga.

Such new and innovative products have increased the appeal of payment cards issued by DnB NORD Banka, which is why the number of payment cards issued by DnB NORD Banka increased by 4% during the first half of 2010.

DnB NORD Banka is also continuing to upgrade the services that it is offering in its iNORD internet bank network, and to promote distance payment operations among the bank's clients. As a result, the number of iNORD users grew by 8% during the first six months of 2010.
 
Overview of the H1 2010 results of 2010
One of the shareholders of DnB NORD Banka – biggest bank of Norway DnB NOR – recorded a profit of LVL 245.9 millions (NOK 2 823 millions), being a significant improvement from the year-earlier period when the profit reached just LVL 56 million (NOK 643 million).

Write-downs on loans came to LV 76 million (NOK 878 million) during the first half of 2010, a significant decline from LVL 201.8 million (NOK 2 318 million) in the second quarter last year.
Rune Bjerke, DnB NOR Group chief executive is pleased with the results of DnB NOR in the second quarter of the year: "We have more than halved our write-downs compared with the year-earlier period, which is positive for both us and our customers".