According to the results of the year 2011, unaudited profit of Rietumu Bank amounted to LVL 10.1 million (EUR 14.4 million). The volume of attracted funds has increased by 24 % to reach LVL 1.2 billion (EUR 1.7 billion), in evidence of the bank’s rapid development and the efficient policy chosen by Rietumu Bank’s top-management.
“In spite of the forecast that the next year will not be simple for the financial system and the economies of Latvia and Europe, everything alludes to the fact that the Latvian banking industry will be profitable according to results of both 2011 and 2012,” says the President of Rietumu Bank Alexander Pankov. In his opinion, it is the banking system that can further on become a platform for developing the Latvian economy, as this system has one of the best performances and demonstrates the ability of reacting fast to changes on the market.
“With regards to Rietumu Bank, we organise our work in the spirit of globalisation and are investing in those regions of the world where the economy develops more successfully. Therefore, at present Rietumu Bank actively supports the businesses of its clients not only in Latvia, but also beyond its borders. As we see, a similar strategy is also applied by other successful international financial institutions, which control their expenses and thoroughly monitor their risks, forwarding the accumulated resources to the ‘oases’ of economic growth and stability,” indicates the Bank’s President.
He emphasised that the Latvian government has succeeded in creating prerequisites for the growth of the national economy and, therefore, one could expect that this year banks will start financing local companies more actively. Besides, we also see that the attitude of international investors to Latvia is changing for the better.
“This year Rietumu Bank will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and all these years we aimed at being profitable and found opportunities for development in any, even most complicated, situations. Upon its establishment, Rietumu Bank was only in the top fifty of the commercial banks, whereas now it is one of the largest and one of the most successfully developing financial institutions of Latvia. This is also evidenced by the financial performance of Rietumu: in comparison with the results of 2010, last year the Bank’s assets have increased by 16 % to LVL 1.4 billion (EUR 2 billion), the credit portfolio has grown by 4 % to LVL 583 million (EUR 830 million) and the profit has reached LVL 10.1 million (EUR 14.4 million),” noted Alexander Pankov.
As for the economic development of the EU, in the opinion of Alexander Pankov, it will be determined by the strength of the position of the French-German union. This will entail an expansion of the powers of administrative authority in Brussels and the subsequent development of the European Union according to the federative model. The consequence of that will be further centralisation of the economic policy. “In the EU we see the striving and intention to overcome the crisis phenomena not through the acceleration of the inflation flywheel, but at the expense of cutting down budget expenses. These measures will undoubtedly secure the positive final result. The faster they are implemented, the sooner European leaders will succeed in taking the European currency ship out to a calm harbour. And then it will become obvious that the talks about the supposedly close end of the euro are nothing but speculations,” says Alexander Pankov.
Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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