Lithuania – Swedbank reports net profit for 2012 of € 106 mln (off 37.8% from 2011), SEB reports a net profit of € 37 mln (off 67%), Citadele reports net profit of € 3 mln (up 131%), AB Ūkio bankas denies rumors of involvement in money laundering, banking association announces schedule for next phase of its basketball tournament

In the last week of January 2013, three of Lithuania’s eight banks published preliminary results for the year 2012.  (One euro equaled 3.4528 Lithuanian litas (LTL) on 31 Dec. 2012.)

First, on 25 January the bank Citadele (AB “Citadele” bankas), which is 100% owned by Citadele Banka AS of Latvia, announced a consolidated net profit – of the bank together with its leasing & factoring subsidiary – of 11.98 mln LTL (€ 3.47 mln) for 2012, up 130.7% from the result of 5.194 mln LTL registered in the previous year.

Then on 30 January the bank Swedbank (“Swedbank”, AB), a subsidiary of Swedbank AB (publ) of Sweden, announced a net profit for 2012 of 367 mln LTL (€ 106 mln), a decline of 37.8% from its net profit of 590 mln LTL in the previous year.

Finally, on 31 January the bank SEB (AB SEB bankas), which is 100% owned by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) of Sweden, announced a net profit for 2012 of 126.3 mln LTL (€ 36.58 mln), down 66.7% from the net profit of 379.8 mln LTL earned in 2011.

Sources:

AB „Citadele“ banko grupė Lietuvoje per 2012 m. uždirbo beveik 12,0 mln. litų pelno (2013-01-25)

„Swedbank“ Lietuvoje 2012 metų finansiniai rezultatai (2013-01-30)

Skelbiami SEB banko grupės 2012 m. veiklos rezultatai (2013-01-31)

In other banking news, on 25 January the directors of AB Ūkio bankas issued a statement vehemently denying press reports that the bank was under investigation for money laundering.  The bank denied in particular any involvement in the “Magnitsky case”, in which the Russian accountant* Sergei Magnitsky was arrested after 5.409 bln RUB in tax rebates were obtained in December 2007 from the Russian government for taxes paid by subsidiaries of Hermitage Capital Management, a client of Magnitsky’s.

*Western accounts, including the “Magnitsky Act”, almost universally refer to Magnitsky as a “lawyer”.  He was at no time a lawyer, but was a mathematics genius who attended the Accounting Department at the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, and who in his third year there (1992) found work with the auditing firm Ernst & Young.  See Переломанный системой: Сергей Магнитский в воспоминаниях родных и друзей (2010-11-15).

Source:

AB ŪKIO BANKO VADOVŲ PAREIŠKIMAS (2013-01-25)

Finally, on 31 January the Association of Lithuanian Banks (Lietuvos bankų asociacija) published an update on its latest basketball tournament.  At the end of the first phase the standings were as follows:

1^st place: SEB (see here for photos and stats of the team as of November 2012)

2^nd place: Swedbank

3^rd place: Ūkio bankas

4^th place: Nordea Bank

5^th place: Barclays Technology Centre Lithuania

6^th place: Šiaulių bankas

7^th place: Danske Bank

The schedule for the second phase of the tournament is as follows:

First round
4 Feb. 2013 (Mon.), 19:00	Danske Bank – Swedbank
7 Feb. 2013 (Thurs.), 19:30	Šiaulių bankas – Ūkio bankas
12 Feb. 2013 (Tues.), 20:00	Barclays Technology Centre Lithuania – Nordea Bank
Second round
12 Feb. 2013 (Tues.), 19:00	Swedbank – Danske Bank
14 Feb. 2013 (Thurs.), 19:30	Ūkio bankas – Šiaulių bankas
17 Feb. 2013 (Sun.), 20:00	Nordea Bank – Barclays Technology Centre Lithuania

Vidmantas Dijokas, forward-center for SEB

Born: 1984.  Height: 196 cm.

Sources:

Bankų krepšinio turnyro II etapo rungtynių tvarkaraštis (2013-01-31)

Vidmantas Dijokas / VKS

Mark Pleas

Eastern Europe Banking & Deposits Consultant

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