In November, world financial markets experienced strong emotions as a result of the presidential elections in the US and the meeting of OPEC member states.

Q3 2016 was favourable for ABLV Bank, AS and the group. All major business and efficiency indicators remained high.

Citadele bank plans to perform the issue of subordinated bonds, amounting up to EUR 40 million. The bonds are supposed to be admitted to the regulated market – Baltic list of debt securities of the stock exchange Nasdaq Riga. The purpose of the issue is to strengthen the bank’s capital in order to achieve future business objectives by using the raised funds as the bank’s subordinated capital, as well as to perform early repayment of subordinated loan obtained from the Latvian Privatisation Agency. The bonds will be offered to the investors in Latvia and Lithuania, and qualified investors from other EEA countries will be also able to acquire the bonds.

In October, the global stock market moved sideways while keeping lower volatility. Investors mostly focused their attention on quarterly corporate reports, as well as on US pre-election jitters.

September turned out to be rather complicated month for global financial markets. Following the quiet conditions in August, volatility at the markets was resumed due to actions taken by the central banks of the leading countries. First was the ECB session at the beginning of the month, which was expected by some market players to bring additional stimulation measures under the ECB monetary policy.

According to the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), published by Z/Yen, a leading London-based think tank, Luxembourg has shown great result, having occupied 12^th place, thus rising by 2 positions as compared to previously.

We previously announced that ABLV Bank Luxembourg, S. A. had started to issue payment cards earlier this year. We already offer VISA Gold and VISA Gold Business cards in euros to our clients, who will be able to additionally benefit from payment cards in US dollars as of 1 October 2016.

August was rather calm on global financial markets. In the midst of holiday season, there was not a lot of news, and given the absence of significant events, the investors opted for a waiting attitude.

Although the first half of 2016 was marked by complex economic situation on some of the bank’s target markets, we managed to achieve and surpass the planned financial indicators, although adjustment of the bank’s business model has been initiated to ensure sustainability of the bank's operations.

In July, the prices on global financial markets kept growing for almost all types of assets. The panic of June due to the unexpected results of the referendum concerning the membership of Great Britain in the European Union subsided rather quickly, and investors returned to the market. It can be partly explained by common understanding that the process of Great Britain leaving the EU will be quite long, thus preventing strong negative consequences. The statements of central banks, especially the ECB and Bank of England, regarding their readiness to provide support to financial markets and defuse the effect caused by Brexit, if necessary, played their role as well.