Banks, Deposits, Financial Services, Lithuania, Loan

Eight banks and foreign bank branches ended the year with a profit and another four suffered losses.

The 2007 aggregate result would have been better if it weren't for factors related to a merger between DNB and Nordea. Excluding the impact of these factors, the banking sector's profit for 2017 would have reached 295 million euros, the highest level since 2011, the central bank said in a report.

The banking system's assets totaled 27.324 billion euros in late 2017, up 6.1% from a year ago. The combined loan portfolio (including leasing), which makes up the bulk of the assets, grew by 3.1% year-on-year to reach 18.64 billion euros at the end of December.

Loans to businesses increased by 7.4% over the year to 9.252 billion euros, and loans to private individuals grew by 9.2% to 8.805 billion euros, with housing loans alone up by 9.1% to 7.001 billion euros.

Overall deposits rose by 6.8% in 2017 from 2016 to 20.035 billion euros, with private individuals' deposits up by 7.4% to 11.994 billion euros and non-financial companies' deposits up by 3.3% to 5.934 billion euros.