Latvian banks see profit shrink by nearly half in 2017

RIGA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Latvian banks saw their aggregate profit shrink by nearly a half last year with 236.1 million earned in 2017, the banking regulator informed on Tuesday.

According to the information released by the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC), 10 Latvian banks and four branches of foreign banks, together accounting for 92.3 percent of the Baltic country's banking assets, closed last year in black.

Information available on the regulator's official website shows that the Latvian banking sector's aggregate assets dropped 3.7 percent year-on-year to 28.4 billion euros at the end of 2017.

Deposits at the Latvian banks contracted 5.1 percent from late 2016 to 21.4 billion euros at the end of last year.

FCMC representatives said that resident deposits rose slightly in December, with household deposits growing 3.2 percent and deposits made by nonfinancial institutions increasing 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, government deposits fell 15.6 percent and non-resident deposits rose 1.1 percent.

The banking sector's aggregate loan portfolio shed 4.6 percent from the end of 2016 and was worth 14.4 billion euros at the end of last year, the regulator said.

The regulator noted that after a slight growth in October and November, the loan portfolio declined by 0.9 percent in December as resident loans decreased by 0.5 percent and non-resident loans dropped 3.8 percent. Enditem