Latvia’s Parex banka posts 12 pct profit growth to EUR 21.3 mln for 2004

Parex banka, the largest bank in Latvia by assets, last year made a profit of 15 million lats EUR 21.34 mln), according to preliminary data, which is 12 percent more than in 2003, according to data provided by Latvia's Commercial Banks Association, in the last quarter of the year alone the bank's profit was nearly 5.5 million lats. The bank's assets Dec. 31, 2004 were 1.399 billion lats, up by 32.9 percent over the year. Boasting the largest among Latvia's banks, the assets of Parex Bank late last year accounted for 17.8 percent of the aggregate Latvian banking assets. Parex banka's credit portfolio late last year amounted to 666.978 million lats, up 43.4 percent from beginning of the year and making up 15.2 percent of the aggregate loan portfolio of Latvia's banks. Deposits in Parex banka at the end of the last year amounted to 1.043 million lats, up 31.5 percent over the year and 20.4 percent of the entire deposits in all Latvia's banks. The bank's capital and reserves late last year were 124.875 million lats, up 17.8 percent over the year. In 2003 Parex banka's profit was 13.423 million lats. The bank's largest shareholders are its heads Valerijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis.