Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Loan

Bigbank's loan portfolio reached 304 million euros by the end of the year, increasing by 23 million euros during the year.

The bank's board chairman Kaido Saar said that last year, the bank increased its loan portfolio, which is why also the interest income grew. Bigbank's interest income reached last year neatly 60 mln euros, which was growth of 11.8% in a year while interest costs fell by 4.9%.

"Bigbank's business model has by now undergone a significant change, due to which we lowered interest rates on small loans and launched a new brand – starting this year, we compete increasingly actively with universal banks," said Saar.

The group's total assets amounted to 324.8 million euros at the end of last year, an increase of 12.8 million euros in a year.

In 2014, the group's profit before impairment was 37.3 million euros, which increased as compared to 2013 by 6.9 million euros. The loan portfolio growth was highest in the Lithuanian branch. Fixed-term deposits in the bank formed at the end of last year 239 million euros.

At the end of last year, the group had a total of 176,000 loan agreements, of which 41,000 in Estonia, 70,000 in Latvia, 31,000 in Lithuania, 15,000 in Finland, 11,000 in Spain and 7,000 in Sweden.