OREANDA-NEWS. September 27, 2011. “The operating indicators of the Citadele Bank are in line with the restructuring plan for the bank which was approved by the European Commission,” says Citadele Bank board chairman Juris Jakobsons. “What’s more, our results during the first half of the year were better than was anticipated in the plan. Citadele concluded the first half of the year with a profit of 0.2 million Lats, while the bank’s group earned a profit of 0.3 million Lats. Citadele is no longer a loss-maker, today it is once again a growing company. The results of the bank for 2010 largely reflect the consequences of the country’s economic crisis, while this year Citadele has increased revenues, and indicators related to operational effectiveness and quality of assets have improved constantly since the beginning of the year”, reported the press-centre of Citadele Bank.

“In September and in line with the schedule, the bank will repay nearly 50 million Euros to the state. This will be the third payment made by Citadele to the state over the course of the past year,” says J. Jakobsons.

The board chairman underlines that the restructuring plan approved by the European Commission speaks not just to financial indicators, but also to capital forecasts, which are in line with the Citadele group’s development plans. The group’s audited financial report for the 6 month period ended 30 June 2011 shows that the quality of assets has improved since 2010, and that has meant a substantial reduction in the amount of money set aside for loans.

“Moody’s is not changing its long-term and short-term ratings for Citadele at this time,” says Jakobsons. “What Moody’s has done is that it has begun a review of the long-term rating, and it will take a decision only when it learns the latest information about Citadele’s indicators, as well as more detailed information about the quality of assets, stabilisation of capital levels, and, particularly, the sustainability of these achievements.”

Information about Citadele’s operating results during the first half of 2011

Citadele Bank has finished the first half of 2011 with profit before impairment charges and tax of 5.4 million Lats (Group 4.6 million Lats). This resulted in net profit of 0.2 million Lats (Group 0.3 million Lats) after taxes.

According to the financial data for the first half of 2011, Citadele’s total assets amount to 1.25 billion Lats (Group – 1.42 billion Lats). The Bank’s loan portfolio is 641 million Lats (Group – 736 million Lats) and the amount of capital and reserves is 84 million Lats (Group - 83 million Lats). The total amount of deposits with Citadele Bank at the end of the first half year of 2011 reached 1.01 billion Lats (Group – 1.18 billion Lats). The bank’s capital asset ratio is reported to be 13.0% (Group – 10.7%) and its liquidity ratio is a healthy 62%.

According to data as of 30 June 2011, Citadele is the third largest bank in Latvia in terms of attracted deposits (9.7% market share), the sixth largest bank according to the amount of assets (6.5% market share) and the fifth largest by the total amount of loans issued (5.2% market share).

As announced previously, during its first year of activity, Citadele Bank reimbursed a total of 44.9 million Lats or 63.9 million Euros invested by the State already twice ahead of schedule. During its first year, the bank has paid the State a total of 12.8 million Lats in interest payments for the received support.

During its first year of activity since August 2010, Citadele has started offering such new and unique products for the Baltics as New Mortgage Loan and Citadele Payment Card. Citadele is the only collaboration partner of American Express® in Latvia and Lithuania who is entitled to issue American Express credit cards. In order to facilitate business development, during 2011 Citadele Bank has started issuing funding of European Investment Bank to small and medium enterprises the total amount of which is 100 million Euros.

13’963 new clients chose Citadele Bank since August 2010.

According to data of market and public opinion research centre SKDS, during its first year Citadele succeeded at increasing the share of Latvia’s residents who see the Bank as a stable, safe, convenient and advantageous institution.

A study conducted by Data Serviss Finance Track research agency also serves as proof of this tendency – Citadele’s results are the 4th best on the market in all awareness indices.