Having served as the Chairman of the Management Board of Citadele for the last 8 years, Guntis Belavskis has today resigned from the bank to pursue business opportunities outside the Baltic banking sector.
His resignation has been accepted by the bank’s Supervisory Board with immediate effect. Mr Beļavskis will support the Bank during the transitional period until 1 June 2020.
Under his leadership, Citadele has undergone a major transition from a struggling financial institution to a modern, well-established and consistently growing Baltic bank serving local businesses and private individuals.
Johan Akerblom, Citadele’s Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed as acting Chairman of the Management Board starting 2 March 2020. Mr Akerblom joined Citadele two years ago and has since successfully supported the Group’s strategic development and financial performance.
Johan Akerblom: “The Bank and the Management team would like to thank Guntis for many years of leadership and close collaboration. We have confidence in the bank’s continued positive development; we also feel that the transition will be smooth and that Guntis will continue to be a part of Citadele’s family as a loyal customer and ambassador.”
Guntis Beļavskis: “I have been looking to spend more time in developing exciting entrepreneurship opportunities related to several new businesses; this is a chance for me to use my knowledge and skills in a new way. I have had this aspiration for some time.
I am very proud of achieving a complete turnaround of Citadele Group together with my team. In terms of financial performance, 2019 has been the best year since the bank’s inception, demonstrating the best quality of customer service, the highest customer loyalty and the highest ranked mobile app, among other things. It will continue to be very exciting for me to observe the bank’s bright future.
I hand over the future development of Citadele to a team of experienced executives, who, under the guidance of amazing and reputable shareholders, are eager to see the bank solidify its position as the Baltic banking champion.
I want to say a huge thank you to all of the dedicated colleagues at Citadele as well as loyal Citadele customers, who have served as my daily inspiration for many years.
I would also like to express my appreciation of the Supervisory Board for their dedicated support throughout my career and for accepting my resignation.”
About Citadele Bank
Citadele’s mission is to modernise the banking sector and offer more opportunities to clients and businesses throughout the Baltics; our aim is to become the Baltic banking champion.
Alongside traditional banking services, Citadele offers its clients a range of services based on next-generation financial technology, including, among other things, a modern mobile banking app, contactless and instant payments, modern client onboarding practices and technologically-enabled best-in-class customer service.
Citadele is the third largest bank in Latvia by number of clients. The Citadele Group is managed from Latvia. Its subsidiaries and branches operate in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Switzerland.