During the last 12 months, loan portfolio of AB “Citadele” bankas in Lithuania grew by 22% and reached 266 million euros. In the business segment, the loan portfolio grew by 52.6% and accounted for 124.9 million euros. Over the first 6 months of the year, “Citadele” bankas issued 3.5 million euros in consumer loans.
This growth reflects new strategy of “Citadele” of being an active lender to small and medium businesses in the Baltics, while taking a leader’s position in the personal loans sector in Lithuania and Latvia.
“At the beginning of this year, we started offering loans without collateral to small enterprises and farmers and introduced a tailored offer to companies that generate income through POS terminals. We can offer up to 20,000 euros in microloans for small businesses in just 24 hours. The market has responded positively and the number of clients has increased. Over the six months of 2016 we signed 442 microloan contracts with small enterprises for 7.3 million euros”, says Skirmantas Jareckas, Chairman of the Board and Head of Administration of “Citadele” bankas.
In the beginning of this year, “Citadele” bankas expanded its distribution network for consumer lending. This is another factor that contributed to the growth of the bank’s loan portfolio. In February, 2016, “Citadele” was the first bank in Lithuania to start providing services through PayPost, a financial services network of almost 200 kiosks managed by the Lietuvos paštas (Lithuania Post). “Citadele” consumer loans issued through PayPost accounts for almost 20% of total consumer loans issued over the first six months.
At the end of June, bank deposit portfolio of AB “Citadele” bankas amounted to 335.9 million euros. Deposits of resident customers grew by 38.56% over the last year.
During first half of 2016, “Citadele” bankas in Lithuania earned net profit of 1.32 million euros. At the end of June, the value of assets of AB “Citadele” bankas was 434 million euros and its capital adequacy ratio was 17.20%.
In the beginning of 2016, “Citadele” received high recognition for its services in Lithuania and Latvia from Dive, a customer satisfaction research company carrying out Baltic banking service studies annually. In Lithuania, “Citadele” bankas was recognized as the best customer service provider among Lithuanian banks whereas in Latvia it was recognized as the runner-up in terms of customer service.