Banks, Deposits, Financial Services, Latvia

"Funds in current accounts and deposits in the first quarter of 2018 dropped to EUR 1.5 billion compared to EUR 2.4 billion at the end of 2017. The bank has successfully managed this outflow following its conservative liquidity management policy. Despite the severe outflow on customers’ funds, the bank continues to hold strong liquidity position with the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) at the end of the first quarter being 1,011% with minimum requirement of 100%," the bank said in its statement

The bank's assets in the first quarter of this year shrank by 28%.

The bank closed the first quarter of this year with a profit, even though the bank did not disclose its profit figure.

As reported, Rietumu Banka closed 2017 with a profit of EUR 33.034 million, which is 2.4 times less than in 2016, according to the unaudited annual financial statements. The bank's assets at the end of 2017 reached EUR 2.999 billion, down 13.5% or EUR 466.984 million from late 2016.

This year the bank decided to terminate its relationship with a significant number of high risk customers. Furthermore, significant amendments to the bank’s strategy are planned to be developed and implemented in year 2018 and beyond. Management of the bank expects to complete preparation of its new strategy by June 2018.