European Merchant Bank (“EMBank”) ended its third year of operations in Lithuania profitably, earning a net profit of EUR 312 thousand in 2022, compared to a EUR 605 thousand net loss of the previous year.
These improved results were determined by the successful recruitment of the best talent, development of a partner network and investments in advanced IT solutions, as well as close attention to risk management and creating a positive customer experience.
EMBank’s other performance indicators also improved: its asset size grew by 32% reaching EUR 115 Mn with the increase of its deposit base to EUR 102 Mn. EMBank’s prudential ratios show strong liquidity with 306.8% LCR and 231% NSFR as well as a CAR ratio of 22.8% which are significantly above regulatory limits.
Within the last operational year, EMBank’s gross income increased to EUR 6.5 Mn with a 47% growth, while its net interest income growing to EUR 1.4 Mn. Bank’s business loan portfolio of EUR 24 Mn by the end of the year composed of transport and storage (29%), real estate (23%), wholesale and retail trade (14.3%), credit institutions (10.2%), agriculture, forestry, and fishing (9.4%) and manufacturing (7.7%) sectors within the total loan portfolio.
EMBank provides working capital, investment loans and credit lines targeted at SMEs and has recently added leasing to its range of financing products to support growth of the SMEs in the Lithuanian market and targets to increase its loan portfolio to EUR 85 Mn before the end of 2025.
EMBank CEO, Sarp Demiray, stated that despite external constraints brought on by the complexity of the global developments, the Bank managed to achieve very successful financial results as an outcome of the investments in strong governance practices as well as its efforts to bolster its product and service capabilities. “Concluding our first operational year in profits is encouraging but obviously just an indicator that we are on the right track to achieve our challenging goals. With the plans ahead, our aim is to be the primary partner for SMEs as businesses and FinTechs while increasing our asset size to over EUR 225 Mn before the end of 2025”.
Mr. Demiray also mentioned that “We constantly keep strengthening our talented team which grew by another 25% in the recent year and have been able to deliver new products such as leasing and Euribor based deposits as well as a special offer to local businesses with no fees till the end of year. We are investing considerable effort to increase our customer satisfaction with new capabilities including a set of APIs, mobile platform, a new type of CASA account as well as supply chain finance and trade finance solutions. In line with our strong dedication to build a bullet-proof risk management practice, we have invested to new tools and partners especially in credit risk and AMLCTF compliance risk areas and extended our teams.”
The Chairman of the EMBank Supervisory Board, Ekmel Cilingir, emphasized that the Bank will continue to focus on its SME customers. “Our results show that the focus of the Bank to SME market with a high-quality service and dedication to provide personal attention has been meeting the customer needs. We believe we are on the right track and keep our focus on the SME segment in the Lithuanian market, while enhancing our product and payment capabilities to help them choose the financial solutions that best meet their needs.”
EMBank is licensed by the European Central Bank (ECB) and is a member of SEPA, SWIFT and TARGET2. The bank provides working capital and investment loans, especially for SMEs. The Bank also offers Banking as a Service (BaaS) solutions.
