Banks, Financial Services, Lithuania

The pre-audited net profit of Siauliu Bankas amounted to EUR 10.6 million in 2014, which is 3.4 times more than in 2013 when the profit reached EUR 3.1 million, said Siauliu Bankas.

The increased customers' confidence in Bank enlarged the deposit portfolio by EUR 104 million or by 8% during the reporting year and reached EUR 1.4 billion at the end of the year – 98% of this portfolio mainly consisted of funds placed by the Lithuanian residents and companies. The deposits of the private customers grew by 5% over 2014 while the growth of corporate clients' funds comprised 25%. Among other banks operating in Lithuania, Siauliu Bankas steadily holds the fourth position in deposit market.

Decline in lending volumes caused by the geopolitical and economical uncertainty together with the fairly successful realization of the bad loans previously acquired from the failed Ukio Bankas led to the loan portfolio decrease. The loan and leasing portfolio of the Group decreased by 2% over 2014 and comprised almost EUR 0.8 billion at the end of 2014.The Bank granted more that EUR 231 million in loans to its clients over 2014.

Constantly decreasing costs of the main funding source – time deposits – led to increase of the net interest income. The net interest income increased by 30% comparing to 2013 and amounted to almost EUR 41.1 million. Growing number of customers and their increasing activity resulted in 23% growth of the net fee and commission income over the year.

The profit from the foreign exchange operations and securities account for a quite considerable impact on the annual results of the Group. The annual result from the transactions in foreign currency grew by 86% and comprised EUR 3.6 million euro, while the result from operations with securities increased by 30% up to EUR 3.3 million euro.

Increased operating expenses in 2014 influenced the performance ratios of the Group too. The cost to income ratio decreased by 11.5%age points over the year to 50.6% while annual ratios of the return on equity and return on assets had doubled and comprised 11.4% and 0.7% respectively.