Sergejs Zaicevs, who has worked for the Citadele Bank and its predecessor for many years, has been chosen by the council of the IPAS Citadele Asset Management subsidiary to join its board. The appointment has also been approved by the bank’s board and council. This means that the management team of Latvia’s largest domestic investment management company has been increased to three board members, as is required in its own statutes.
Citadele Asset Management council chairman Juris Jākobsons says that candidates for the board position were selected from among the bank’s employees. Zaicevs joined the team in 2004, prior to which he worked for other international companies. He has a wealth of experience in managing client relationships, and his professionalism will be of great importance for the company’s ongoing growth.
The new board member will be responsible for the development of product sales and client services at Citadele Asset Management. He joins a board whose chairman is Uldis Upenieks, who took over the post late last year, with the final board member being Zigurds Vaikulis, who has, since 2011, been responsible for the management of Citadele Asset Management portfolios.
“The fact that Sergejs Zaicevs is joining the Citadele Asset Management board means that the board will be able to work at a far higher level of capacity, because we have ambitious and far-reaching goals in the area of investment management,” says Jākobsons. “We need a professional management team that has a wealth of experience. Citadele Asset Management has won international plaudits several times over the past few years, and I am sure that we will be able to achieve outstanding results at the local and international level.”
Board chairman Upenieks adds that “the company’s priorities include ensuring higher profitability, always making sure that clients have a maximum return on their invested assets, and also attracting new clients in terms of individual and institutional portfolios. Our knowledge has been rated highly at the international level, because we have been able to invest resources in funds which offer a good return for clients. This is a good foundation for ongoing development and increasing client numbers.”
Citadele Asset Management has received several major international awards. One of the world’s leading financial journals, World Finance, declared it to be the best investment management company in the Baltic States in 2012. The international investment fund information and research company Lipper declared the Citadele Eastern European Obligation Fund USD to have the best relationship between profitability and risk in the area of state securities in developing European countries over a course of three years in 2012. The international financial research company Morningstar, in turn, awarded its top rating of five stars to Citadele’s Eastern European Obligation Fund USD and four stars to the Citadele Russian Stock Fund.