During the 1st quarter of this year, Citadele Group actively served and granted loans to businesses and private customers in all three Baltic States. The Group’s net profit for the quarter was EUR 9.1 million, which was an increase of 19% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Citadele Group’s net loan portfolio continued to grow, reaching EUR 1.273 billion at the end of Q1 2017, representing a 6% increase compared with the same period in 2016. In-line with the Group’s strategy, the growth in the loan portfolio was mostly driven by private customers and small and medium businesses in the Baltic States. Loan portfolio in Latvia constituted EUR 919 million, representing 1% increase over the past year. Loan portfolio in Lithuania reached EUR 294 million and in Estonia EUR 105 million, representing 15% and 19% increase over the course of the last year respectively.
Citadele’s CEO Guntis Beļavskis remarks: “At the beginning of this year we have experienced the largest growth in the Latvian economy in all of the past four years. This helped us to grow the Bank’s interest income and loan portfolio in-line with our strategy to be an active lender to local businesses. Further growth in Latvia is still expected, with a similar positive backdrop in Lithuania, where for a few years economic growth has gone hand-in-hand with increases in total loans issued.”
Over the course of the last year, Citadele Group also increased its total customer deposits; at the end of the 1st quarter of 2017, the total amount of deposits in Citadele Group reached EUR 2.91 billion, growing by 13% over the course of the year, further strengthening the Group’s liquidity and funding. Deposit portfolio in Latvia amounted to EUR 1.88 billion; in Lithuania – EUR 433 million; in Estonia – EUR 216 million. Deposit portfolio in “AP Anlage und Privatbank AG”, which is part of Citadele Group in Switzerland, constituted EUR 268 million.
Citadele Group’s net interest income delivered a 12% growth compared to the respective period in 2016, resulting in EUR 17.5 million. This was mostly driven by a healthy growth in the loan portfolio’s yield and size across the Baltic States. Net commission income for the Group increased by 8% reaching EUR 9.4 million. Accordingly, the Group continued to generate a healthy return on its capital with ROE standing at 14.1% as compared to 13.7% in the 1st quarter of 2016.
Asset quality for the Group continued to improve with the NPL ratio decreasing to 9.6% as compared to 10.0% in March 2016. The Group’s capital position delivered a solid yearly improvement with CAR increasing up to 15.8% as compared to the same period in 2016 when Group’s CAR was 12.9%, primarily due to net profit generation and the completed subordinated debt issuance.
Citadele Group’s assets totalled EUR 3.310 billion, which was 12% or EUR 351 million more than in the 1st quarter of 2016. Meanwhile, Citadele Bank’s assets on the 31st of March 2017 totalled EUR 2.542 billion, which was 5% or EUR 127 million more than at the end of the 1st quarter of 2016, when the bank’s assets totalled EUR 2.415 billion.
Citadele is the third largest bank in Latvia by number of clients. Citadele Group is managed from Latvia, and its subsidiaries and branches operate 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. Citadele’s vision is to become the financial services provider of choice in the Baltics for private customers and small and medium businesses.