For the eighth year in a row, in partnership with ABLV Bank, ABLV Charitable Foundation is organising a Christmas charitable campaign, in which ABLV Bank employees and clients as well as the general public, who wish to support the foundation’s objectives, is invited to make donations.

Although varying trends were observed in the world economy and economic growth slowdown was observed in some countries, Latvian economic indicators are continuing being among the best in the European Union. In Q3 2014, Latvian real gross domestic product (GDP), according to data without seasonal adjustment, grew by 2.1%. Q3 2014 was favourable for ABLV Bank, AS, and the group. The business volume continued to grow and the bank’s profit amounted to EUR 50.0 million.

As it is known, on 4th of November the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) will come into force. SSM is a framework in which the European Central Bank (ECB) will conduct direct supervision of largest banks of the euro area. Being assisted by national supervisory authorities, the ECB will attend to safety and soundness of the European banking system.

From 22^nd to 23^rd of October in Riga already second in a row an international conference and exhibition Intax Wealth Latvia, dedicated to asset planning of individuals and wealth structuring of affluent clients, will take place. Our bank is one of the event’s sponsors.

During the first half of 2014, the bank and other companies of ABLV Group continued to grow, due to consistent implementation of the group’s development strategy. Although the situation in several our target markets was complex and strained, we managed to achieve planned results due to our thoroughly chosen business model, risk management, and cautious policy.

Although the global political events cause certain risks for future growth of Latvian economy, Latvia remains being one of the most rapidly developing countries of the European Union, and its financial sector demonstrates even better performance.

Another issue of ABLV Bank shares that lasted from 7^th of April till 16^th of May was completed successfully. Within this issue 2 243 062 ordinary registered voting shares were issued. After the issue, the bank’s share capital is composed of 29 385 000 ordinary voting shares and 3 015 770 employee shares without voting rights. The newly issued shares constitute 7.6% of the bank's voting share capital.

On Friday, 4^th of April the Association of Commercial Banks of Latvia (ACBL) awarded winners in four categories in the Zelta monēta 2014 competition. The ABLV Bank service won one of the top prizes.

On 31^st of March 2014 at the regular ABLV Bank, AS, shareholders meeting, the decision on increasing the bank’s equity capital by EUR 27 million was made.

Although the year 2013 was controversial for the global economy, it was successful for ABLV Bank and the group. In September, the bank also celebrated its 20^th anniversary. We started operations being one of the smallest banks, and due to steadily pursuing elaborated strategy our bank not only has successfully managed to overcome all crisis situations, meanwhile retaining its independence, but it also has become the largest private bank and one of the three biggest banks in Latvia in terms of the amount of assets.