Banks, Financial Services, Latvia

"In 2014, we continued developing Citadele group in all of the bank's and its subsidiaries' key business sectors in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Switzerland,'' said Guntis Belavskis, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Citadele Bank.

He stated that despite the investor attraction process, client activity increased last year, thus enabling the bank to increase its credit portfolio quality, increase the amount of granted loans and the number of issued cards, as well as improve the quality of services. This work resulted in an increase in interest income.

"In terms of the expected changes in the bank's shareholders, we have a positive outlook towards Citadele’s future. We share a common vision about the bank's growth with its future owners, i.e. develop Citadele as the national leader in terms of quality and the diversity of products offered in the Latvian banking sector. We have already carried out preparatory work and implemented various projects, including IT upgrades, in order for Citadele to be able to offer our clients new and innovative banking solutions and improve service quality in the near future,'' Belavskis said, adding that further information about Citadele’s results in detail will be given after receiving audited results for the group's performance in fiscal 2014.

Citadele group's unaudited results show that the total amount of the group's assets reached EUR 2.85 billion in 2014. The group's loan portfolio was EUR 1.08 billion whereas its deposit portfolio was EUR 2.52 billion.

As reported previously, in September 2014, pursuant to an international tender, the Latvian government entered into a sale of 75% of Citadele Bank’s shares to an international group of investors represented by Ripplewood Advisors LLC that include 12 reputable investors.

The bank's shareholder State JSC Privatization Agency (VAS Privatizacijas agentura) signed a share purchase and sale agreement on November 5, 2014. The transaction is expected to be concluded during the first quarter of 2015 after receiving approvals from Latvia's Financial and Capital Market Commission as well as the relevant Lithuanian and Swiss banking regulators. The second shareholder, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will retain its 25% stake in Citadele.