OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2010. The third quarter of this year was rather successful for banks. Although the bank assets reduced slightly during this period, this reduction was one of the smallest since the start of 2009. The amount of customer deposits held with banks also shrank insignificantly, but the nine months and annual growth of deposits remained. The quarterly loan shrinkage rate continued to decrease and in the third quarter was the smallest since the beginning of 2009, while in August and September the loan portfolio even expanded, reported the press-centre of Bank of Lithuania.

According to the data of financial statements of banks as on 1 October 2010, assets of operating domestic banks diminished by LTL 1.2 billion or 1.4 per cent and amounted to LTL 81.6 billion in the third quarter. Over the quarter, loans to customers shrank by LTL 327 billion or 0.5 per cent and made up LTL 59.1 billion. An insignificant reduction of deposits in the third quarter was conditioned by smaller deposit amounts in the shares of individuals and financial institutions, while in other shares of the market deposits were growing.

After almost two years of incurring losses, in the third quarter of 2010 the banking system earned LTL 44.2 million profit, and the nine months loss decreased to LTL 363.9 million. To compare, within nine months of the last year the banking system experienced LTL 1.37 billion losses. The bank performance before taxes and asset value impairment as well as provisions expenses remained positive and within nine months of this year reached LTL 651.2 million (year-on year, LTL 863.8 million). Two banks and four foreign bank branches earned a profit during nine months of this year, whereas the remaining seven banks and four foreign bank branches suffered losses.

All banks complied with the prudential requirements set by the Bank of Lithuania.