Highlights
- Further improvements and upgrades in the Bank’s range of digital products
- Number of active customers exceeded 281 thousand clients
- The Group’s net profit in H1 2019 was EUR 16.2 million
- Total loan portfolio increased by EUR 128 million (9% year-on-year) and reached EUR 1,488 million
- EUR 285 million issued in new loans to Baltic private, SME and corporate customers in H1 2019
- Domestic deposits increased by EUR 202 million
In H1 2019 Citadele Group continued to demonstrate a strong financial performance by growing its customer base across core business segments, ensuring a healthy capital base, as well as showing improvements in the Group’s asset quality metrics.
Working to meet our customers’ needs
“Customer expectations in terms of functionality, speed and availability of banking products and services are high, especially in digital channels. During H1 2019, our continued focus has been on further improvements and upgrades to Citadele’s digital offering.”, says Guntis Beļavskis, Chairman of the Management Board, CEO.
We launched consumer loans via our Mobile App for Citadele clients with valid credit scores. In-store payments by smartphone have been expanded – Citadele’s VISA cardholders, in addition to Mastercard and Maestro cardholders, are now able to pay via smartphone built on Android operating system. A focus on fast, convenient and secure banking solutions has resulted in further improvements to MobileSCAN authentication and payment authorization.
Continuous digital channel development and the convenience of the existing remote services have resulted in increased customer activity. Since the beginning of the year Mobile App users and Internet bank customers increased by 24% and 3% respectively, reaching 99 thousand active Mobile App users and 177 thousand active Internet Bank customers. Vladislavs Mironovs, Member of the Management Board and Chief Commercial Officer Retail, says “Citadele clients currently make more than 95% of transactions through their online bank and Mobile App. The frequency of use for the Citadele Mobile App has seen considerable growth, demonstrating that clients increasingly value the convenience of remote services including the speed, and solutions introduced to the Citadele Mobile App.”
At the same time, in order to ensure a personal approach to physical in-branch meetings, two new concept branches were opened in H1 2019.
Focus on Baltic private and corporate customers
Citadele continued to increase its lending footprint in both retail and corporate banking sectors, achieving 9% growth year-on-year. The total loan portfolio has grown by EUR 93 million (7%) from the year end 2018, reflecting prudent lending standards and ambition to retain loan book quality. The loan portfolio was EUR 1,488 million as per end of H1 2019.
Customer deposits grew by 7% vs year-end 2018, with growth coming from Baltic residents that increased by EUR 202 million during H1 2019. As of 30 June 2019, total Group customer deposits were EUR 2,836 million.
The number of active customers exceeded 281 thousand clients at the end of H1 2019.
CBL Asset Management creates Sustainable Opportunity Investment Plan
Noting the importance of sustainability considerations in financial system, the Bank’s subsidiary and pension manager - CBL Asset Management (CBL AM) has created Latvia’s first Sustainable Opportunity Investment Plan, a pension plan where savings are invested in businesses that are sustainability leaders in their respective industries.
CBL Asset Management has also joined the UN-supported declaration on Principles for Responsible Investment, becoming the first Latvia-based pension management company to operate according to these principles. By signing this declaration, CBL AM has committed to the principles of responsible investment - the company will now give additional weight to its analysis of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations when evaluating and selecting which companies to invest in, as well as promoting this practice within the industry.
About Citadele
Citadele Group’s shareholders are an international consortium of investors with global experience in the banking sector and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Citadele Group is managed from Latvia with subsidiaries and branches in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Switzerland. Citadele provides transactions and card payments, loans, deposits, investments, asset management and leasing services, as well as a range of exclusive and unique products. In 2019 one of the leading customer service evaluation and improvement companies in Central and Eastern Europe, Dive GROUP, acknowledged Citadele as the bank with the best customer service in Latvia, and second best in Lithuania.