Banks, Financial Services, Latvia

The list of Latvia's five largest banks by assets changed in the second quarter of 2017, as Nordea Bank replaced Rietumu Banka as the fourth largest bank by assets.

Swedbank remained the largest bank in Latvia with EUR 5.153 billion in assets at the end of June 2017, down 3.1% from the end of 2016.

The second largest bank in Latvia by assets was ABLV Bank which held EUR 3.748 billion in assets at the end of June, down 3.3% from the end of 2016. SEB Banka had EUR 3.575 billion worth of assets, up 0.03% from the end of last year.

The Latvian branch of Nordea Bank saw its assets expand by 10.8% in the first half of this year to EUR 3.567 billion, whereas Rietumu Banka's assets contracted 6.8% to EUR 3.351 billion.

The five banks raising their assets in the first half of 2017 included SEB Banka, the Latvian branch of Nordea Bank, the Latvian branch of Danske Bank (55.8%), Latvijas Pasta Banka (0.3%), and the Latvian branch of BigBank (9.5%).

Meanwhile, 15 banks saw their assets drop in the first half of 2017. Assets decreased by 2.9% for Swedbank, ABLV Bank, Rietumu Banka and Citadele Bank, by 3.6% for DNB Bank, by 1.1% for Norvik Banka, by 4.5% for BlueOrange Bank, by 19.6% for Regionalal Investiciju Banka, by 8.9% for Meridian Trade Bank, by 12.7% for Baltic International Bank, by 12.8% for PrivatBank, by 24.6 for Rigensis Bank, by 16.8% for Expobank, by 30.3% for the Latvian branch of OP Corporate Bank and by 4.3% for Bank M2M Europe.