OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2013. In 2012, the Bank’s activities focused predominantly on improving the product- and- service assortment, enhancing the risk management system, developing the financial instruments-based services (brokerage services and asset management), and expanding offerings related to asset protection and structuring.

The Bank posted a full-year operating profit of 9.7 million lats. Interest income (4.84 million lats) rose 25.6 percent year-on-year and made up a substantial portion of the profit.

The Bank’s assets totalled 221 million lats as at 2012 year-end. Deposits continue to remain the major source of financing.  By 2012 year-end, the deposits totalled 190.67 million lats and made up 86.22 percent of the liability-side of the balance sheet. Assets under management (trust operations) reached 43.69 million lats, while brokerage portfolio increased by 6.51 million lats during 2012.

The Bank maintains a proactive stance in lending - the loan portfolio surged 5.7 percent year-on-year to reach 63.17 million lats. Yet the Bank consistently pursues a conservative approach towards managing its own assets: the loan portfolio represents 28.6 percent of total assets (the percentage of assets held as loans), and the investment  securities portfolio makes up 4.2 percent of total assets. The financial instruments portfolio  saw  growth  due  to  additional  investments  in  securities  of  Ukraine’s  and  the  UK’s  issuers.

However, the investment pattern/structure has remained unaffected: the Bank still predominantly invests in fixed-income securities (78.9  percent of total portfolio).

The Bank continues to maintain a strong liquidity position (71.49 percent). The figure significantly exceeds the average liquidity ratio in Latvia’s banking sector (59.8 percent).

The Bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 16.45 percent as at 31 December 2012, well above the regulatory threshold of 14.5 set forth by the Financial and Capital Market Commission.

In its efforts to expand customer-aimed offering, the Bank:
-        broadened its range of payment cards by adding VISA Infinite (the most exclusive proposition by Visa International) positioned at the very pinnacle of VISA’s card portfolio,

-        rolled out a smartphone-deployed DigiPass for Mobile application used to generate one-time passwords the innovative product is an alternative to a standard handheld DigiPass identifier,

-        offered its customers Yuan-denominated transfers as the Chinese Renminbi (Yuan) is gaining a more powerful role in international markets.

While sticking to a highly personalised service philosophy, the Bank continues to provide an extensive asset protection and structuring advice. The demand for the services continuously grows, thus enabling the Bank to accumulate experience and ensure customer-favoured comfort in dealing with financial and legal matter.