OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2012. The Supervisory Board of Citadele Bank resolved that chairing of the Executive Board must be entrusted to Guntis Belavskis, the present Chairman. Mr. Belavskis was recommended for the post by the nomination committee developed by the bank’s Supervisory Board, reported the press-centre of Citadele Bank.

A professional human resources recruitment company selected candidates for the post of the Chairman of the Executive Board of Citadele Bank, and these candidates were further assessed by the nomination committee. The committee consisted of representatives appointed by Citadele’s shareholders – SJSC “Privatization Agency” and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as an independent expert from the Baltic Corporate Management Institute. After the nomination committee had assessed recommendations, the Supervisory Board of Citadele Bank resolved that Guntis Belavskis, the present Chairman of the Executive Board, must continue chairing the Board.

“Citadele Bank has been developing steadily up to now, achieving significant business results and repaying the state all of its term deposits before the scheduled time. The Bank must carry on improving its business efficiency and ensuring sustainable results for its shareholders and Latvian tax payers. The main tasks of the Chairman will be to carry on working on improving the efficiency of the bank’s business thus ensuring the best results possible in both attending clients and motivating the bank’s employees in continuing to do this highly challenging work. The head of the bank must have experience and the ability to achieve the set strategic goals which forms the basis of the bank’s long-term growth. Guntis Belavskis has convincingly proven his professionalism both in previous work as well as during the selection of the successful candidate. I am sure that Citadele Bank will continue growing successfully under his management,” says Klavs Vasks, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Citadele Bank.

“I am thankful for the trust that the nomination committee and Supervisory Board have shown to the present management of the bank, and I am well aware of my responsibilities towards the shareholders and tax payers,” comments Guntis Belavskis, Chairman of Citadele Bank. “We have worked hard to develop the bank’s business strategy and a new culture of the organization, and therefore we are able to achieve such good results as we are witnessing now. The management model of Citadele has been officially recognized the best model among corporations in the Baltic States. The work we have invested has started bearing fruit and the value of the bank is steadily increasing therefore I completely trust and am proud of my team. I have to mention, however, that many challenges are looming in the European and global financial sector and this is the reason why we will have to work even harder on the efficiency solutions, cost control and increase of profitability.”

Guntis Belavskis has been chairing Citadele Bank since 1 May 2012. He was a member of the bank’s Board since Citadele was founded on 30 June 2010 until 30 April 2012.

Mr. Belavskis has 10 years of experience in working in the banking sector and more than 15 years of experience in leading positions. In 2002 he was invited to head the sales department at Parex banka. One year later he became the head of sales and marketing, and after another year he became the head of the retail and SME services department. When the Latvian state took over Parex banka in 2008, Mr. Belavskis was invited to work in the new Board of Parex banka.

As announced previously, the procedure of selecting candidates for the post of the Chairman of Citadele Bank was launched when Juris Jakobsons, the former Chairman of the bank, became a member of the Supervisory Board of several subsidiaries of the bank for the sake of increasing their efficiency and profitability.

Citadele completed the 3rd quarter of 2011 with a profit of 3.5 million Lats, thus outstripping the results anticipated in the bank's restructuring plan. During the 1st quarter of this year Citadele Bank achieved significantly better financial indices than during the same period last year, reaching 1.02 million Lats of profit (the bank group in total achieved 2.28 million Lats). Clients’ deposit portfolio increased by 3% or 31.4 million Lats during the 1st quarter of 2012. Citadele Bank acquired the highest scores in “State company management in the Baltic States” study conducted by the Baltic Corporate Management Institute, and it was recognized the best managed state owned company in the Baltics.