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.

In June, the focus of the market players’ attention was the sessions of main central banks of the world and the UK referendum on the EU membership. However, it is fair to say that the results of central banks’ sessions were of much smaller concern for the investors, since no particular surprises were expected. The only thing that aroused some interest was the statement made by the FRS Chair Janet Yellen, namely, that ‘forces holding down interest rates may be long-lasting’, referring, inter alia, to the results of voting for Brexit.

Starting from 13 June 2016, changes in the Basic Information for Investors on ABLV Global Corporate USD Bond Fund become effective.

In May, the global stock market was still in a consolidation phase which started in April. Given the absence of some notable events, the main capital market indexes fluctuated between 3-5%. At the beginning of the month, some players tried once again to test the validity of the expression ‘Sell in May and go away’, due to which many stock markets experienced the pressure from sellers in the first half of the month. However, wide range of investors did not support this ‘initiative’, which added to the market recovery by the end of the month.

VISA Gold and VISA Gold Business payment cards, accounting services in new jurisdictions, residence permits and change of tax residency — these are the main aims of product and service innovations, which have been implemented for our clients’ convenience.

Another issue of ABLV Bank shares has been successfully completed, under which there were 2 700 000 registered shares issued. Following this, the bank’s share capital is comprised of 34 470 000 ordinary voting shares and 3 530 000 employee shares without voting rights attached. The newly issued shares constitute 7.8% of the bank’s voting share capital.

The results of Q1 evidence stable development of the bank and allow predicting that the objectives set for 2016 will be achieved. All the bank’s major performance indicators remain high, including capital adequacy and liquidity ratios.