Moody's affirms AS "Citadele banka" ratings, changes outlook to positive
On 25 January 2024, the international credit rating agency Moody’s has affirmed Citadele’s Baa2 credit rating, changing outlook to positive
“Moody’s affirmation and positive outlook confirms our continued strong performance of the bank. It also reaffirms that we are making good progress in achieving our long-term strategy to become the leading financial services provider in the Baltics. We are proud that despite the challenging economic environment in 2023, we have continued to provide our customers with best-in-class financial services and ensured that the bank operates with strong capital and liquidity ratios”, says Johan Åkerblom, Citadele CEO.
The outlooks on the long-term deposit and senior unsecured debt ratings were changed to positive from stable, reflecting Moody’s view that Citadele’s capital will continue to strengthen during the next 12 to 18 months, supported by higher sustained profitability and stable credit quality.
Upon affirmation of Citadele’s long-term Baa2 deposit rating and Baa3 senior unsecured debt rating, Moody’s has considered Citadele’s strong improvement in earnings during 2023 and forecast of continued strong earnings in coming quarters despite its expectation that interest rate margins had peaked in the third quarter of 2023, and Latvia’s imposition of a 2% mortgage levy and a 20% effective corporate tax rate. Citadele’s capitalisation has increased, and credit quality has held up well during 2023 with problem loans as a share of gross loans being 2.36% at the end of September 2023.
Citadele is currently conducting a strategic review. The rating affirmation reflect the forward-looking standalone assessment of Citadele Banka under its current strategy, including current capital plans and funding plans. Moody’s has also affirmed Citadele’s P-2 short-term deposit rating and Baa3 senior unsecured debt rating. The long- and short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRR) were affirmed at Baa1/P-2. The Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and Adjusted BCA were affirmed at ba1.
About the Citadele Group
Citadele’s mission is to modernise the financial industry and offer more opportunities to private individuals and businesses throughout the Baltics. In 9 months 2023 Citadele issued €621 million in new loans, with its total loan portfolio reaching €2.9 billion, while total deposits reached €3.8 billion.
Alongside a modern universal banking platform, Citadele offers its clients a range of services based on next-generation financial technology, including its modern app, contactless payments and instant payments. Citadele was the first in the Baltics to introduce account opening with a selfie, payment rings and payments to mobile numbers. Meanwhile, businesses make active use of our remote account opening, Citadele Phone POS card acceptance app and Klix universal e-commerce tool, as well as applying for financing to develop their business. Citadele Bank is the Group’s parent company in Latvia, and its subsidiaries and branches operate in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Ilona Frīdmane
Head of Investor Relations and ESG
Phone: +371 29483327
Email: investor.relations@citadele.lv
|