OREANDA-NEWS. April 02, 2013. The Citadele Bank concluded 2002 with a profit of LVL 5.5 million. The Citadele Group concluded the year with a profit of LVL 9 million, that is significantly better than in 2011.

“The good business results in 2012 are logical,” says Citadele board chairman Guntis Belavskis. “We have had a medium-term strategy in all areas – retail services, services for small, medium and large companies, private capital management, and our group’s companies. The implementation of this strategy led to better business results than we had expected at the level of the bank and the group. The business indicators of the bank are growing in a stable way. We have a clear business plan, and we will continue to work and develop the bank on its basis. Our revenues are better than expected, and that allows to predict that the bank’s value will continue to rise.”

Belavskis adds that net interest income for the bank increased by 9.8%, from LVL 24.7 million in 2011 to LVL 27.2 million in 2012. For the group, the increase was by 12%, from LVL 30.9 million to LVL 34.6 million.

“Overall deposits at Citadele were higher than forecast, too,” says the board chairman. “We continued to attract new clients very actively, also improving our services. The bank’s operations have received much praise at the international level.”

On December 31, 2012, the Citadele Bank had assets of LVL 1.33 billion (LVL 1.6 billion for the group). The lending portfolio amounted to LVL 629 million (LVL 716 million), and the capital and reserve level was LVL 92 million (LVL 94.9 million). Total deposits at the end of 2012 amounted to LVL 1.13 billion (LVL 1.4 billion), an increase of 3% during the course of 2012.

The capital sufficiency indicators for the bank and concern on December 31, 2012, were at a level of 12.5% and 10.5% respectively, with a liquidity indicator of nearly 56% for the bank.

In February 2012, the Citadele Bank repaid the last tranche of the Finance Ministry’s term deposit ahead of schedule, the sum being EUR 46.94 million. This meant that the bank had repaid the entire term deposit of EUR 203.7 million over the course of a year-and-a-half, or 10 months ahead of schedule. In 2011, Citadele transferred LVL 3.5 million of its profits to the National Treasury as additional compensation for the support which had been received from the state.

According to the Latvian Association of Commercial Banks, Citadele was the third largest bank in Latvia in 2012 in terms of client numbers (271,040). At year’s end, Citadele was in third place in terms of payment cards among all banks in Latvia, as well as in fourth place in terms of its number of branches and ATMs.

Citadele Facilitating Economic Growth in Latvia

Citadele was active in providing business loans in 2012 for a total amount of LVL 148 million so as to support a series of companies in Latvia.

“We particularly provided support to agricultural, processing and energy companies,” says Guntis Belavskis. “Last year businesspeople were far more interested than in the past in the bank’s guarantees and lines of credit to develop their businesses in partnership with other countries. This year we plan to be even more active in the area of business lending, offering more money than last year.”

Citadele Subsidiaries Post Good Results

Citadele’s subsidiaries finished the year of 2012 with much success, too. Citadele Asset Management increased the assets which it manages to LVL 274 million, the group’s leasing companies in the Baltic States finished the year with nearly LVL 500,000 in profits, and their assets rose to a level of nearly LVL 47 million.

Thanks to good results in 2012, Citadele Life increased its market share in accumulated life insurance by 9.7% on December 31, 2011, to 13.3% on December 31, 2012, in terms of total signed policies.

Citadele’s subsidiaries in other countries did well, too. Citadele Bankas in Lithuania earned a profit of LVL 2.4 million on the year, while AP Anlage & Privatbank AG in Switzerland earned a profit of LVL 300,000, with a 17% increase in client numbers in comparison to 2011.

Citadele Pursues Social Responsibility Projects

Citadele organised several social responsibility projects in partnership with state and non-governmental organisations and with other companies in 2012. The most important project was the “You Are. You Can” movement, which was organised in partnership with the Latvian Paralympic Committee. This was the largest support programme ever for Latvia’s paralympic athletes, and it was aimed at the development of paralympic sports in Latvia.

Citadele Praised Internationally

The Citadele Bank was declared to be the best managed state-owned company in the Baltic States in a study conducted by the Baltic Co-operative Management Institute, “Management of State-Owned Companies in the Baltic States.” Citadele also took part in the European Business Awards and was selected as one of the five national champions in the competition. It was nominated as one of the top 100 companies in Europe for the finals of the competition, which will end later in 2013.