Bigbank Latvia earned 10 million euros in 2020

Despite the challenging economic situation, and the need to help at least a tenth of its clients, Bigbank Latvia generated 10 million euros in profits. In 2020, the bank expanded its credit portfolio by 13% and increased its operating efficiency.

The turnover of Bigbank Latvia in 2020 was EUR 20,979,881: only 2% less than in 2019, which was very successful for the company, resulting in an annual turnover of EUR 21,421,598. The annual profit reached EUR 10,074,721, meaning that Bigbank Latvia has been successful in consistently boosting its operating efficiency. The CIR indicator (operating cost to operating income ratio) widely used in the banking sector was 34% last year, with a net profit of 154,008 euros for every employee of the bank, a 3% year-on-year increase. In 2018, profit-per-employee was at 119,470 euros, and in 2017, at 72,745 euros.

New products popular among the bank’s clients set the foundation for this success, showing rapid growth in a number of credit segments. Business credits shot upwards more than anything else, with a 157% rise the amount of transactions. A total of 71,240,552 euros’ worth of loans was issued over the year, at the same time reducing the amount of non-performing loans (NPL) from 5.6% to 4.3%.

‘2020 was hard for businesses and workers; however, it once again showed the capacity of people to quickly adapt to new conditions and achieve success through cooperation. Since the state of emergency was put in place last year, we’ve worked diligently to help our clients get out of their financial struggles. We urged all those who lost their job or clients to contact us in time, so that we could arrange a payment schedule that was better and more accommodating to these clients. Over the year, almost 8% of all clients of Bigbank Latvia applied for one of the monthly payment reduction instruments. We are particularly happy with the fact that the help was indeed effective, as 7% of those who changed their payment schedule needed our help again,’ Head of Bigbank Latvia Ģirts Kurmis said, summarising the year.

His statements are confirmed by client surveys regularly conducted by Bigbank Latvia. An average of four out of every five respondents gave the bank top scores, 9 or 10, when evaluating the solution it offers in the event of overdue payments.

AS Bigbank is an Estonian bank specialising in consumer credit and corporate loans, as well as in providing profitable term deposit services. The company expanded its activities outside Estonia, establishing branches in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, as well as offering cross-border services in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. The company is led by Martin Lants, a Board Member of the Group. Sven Raba, Mart Veskimägi and Argo Kiltsmann are also Members of the Board.