OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2012. The Citadele Bank concluded the third quarter of 2012 with a profit after set-asides and taxes of LVL 5.7 million (LVL 8.7 million for the concern). This year Citadele has posted much better indicators this year than last year, when the profit during the first three quarters of the year amounted to LVL 3.4 million, reported the press-centre of Citadele Bank. 

As of September 30, 2012, the Citadele Bank had assets of LVL 1.35 billion (LVL 1.59 billion for the concern), a lending portfolio of LVL 631 million (LVL 721 million), and a volume of capital and reserves of LVL 91.1 million (LVL 92.5 million). The bank’s total deposits in Q3 amounted to LVL 1.14 billion (LVL 1.39 billion) – an increase of 3% on the year.

Citadele Bank board chairman Guntis Belavskis: “The Citadele Bank continued to develop stably during the third quarter of 2012, and we increased our profits. We actively issued loans during this period, signing loan and guarantee agreements worth LVL 83.4 million and particularly focusing on agriculture and the processing industries. In terms of major projects in Q3, we were the first bank in Latvia to finance major renovation of an apartment building in Cesis, making use of the energy management or ESCO principle, which makes it possible to renovate real estate if residents in the building do not themselves have the necessary funding.”

Among other large and well known companies which have received financing from Citadele for their development are the textiles company SIA Lauma Fabrics and the food and household goods wholesaler and distributor SIA Balta Bura. Businesspeople have received far more guarantees and letters of credit this year than before so as to expand their operations to other countries.

Individuals and businesspeople can evaluate the improvements which the bank has made in its client services,” Belavskis continues. “In this area, we have particularly focused on remote services. During the third quarter, we introduced our SMS banking system, making use not just of domestic, but also of foreign mobile communications operators. Another new service is the ability to receive a new Citadele payment card by mail anywhere in Latvia. Citadele is the first bank in Latvia to offer this service.”

Thanks to its successful development, Citadele received international praise during the third quarter. World Finance, which is one of the world’s leading financial magazines, declared the Citadele subsidiary Citadele Asset Management to have been the best investment management company in the Baltic States in 2012. This was the third global award which Citadele Asset Management received this year.

Citadele was also declared national champion in the European Business Awards 2012/2013 competition, thanks to votes from local residents on the Internet and an evaluation by an international jury.