Kadri Kiisel appointed as Member of AS LHV Pank Management Board

On 17 August, the Supervisory Board of AS LHV Pank, that belongs to the AS LHV Group consolidation group, decided to appoint Kadri Kiisel as the new Head of Retail Banking and a member of the LHV Pank Management Board. She will start at the position from 21 August. The Management Board now has seven members.

Retail banking of LHV Pank is responsible for the bank’s sales and customer service, digital banking as well as retail investment and financing products. LHV bank’s retail banking has more than 140 000 customers and 100 employees. "As the head of our branches Kadri has already carried the responsibility for a large portion of our retail banking. She is very familiar with our people and our products. For seven years already, she has taken part in the rapid growth of the bank. The Management Board of LHV will get an addition of a very good and experienced leader," said Erki Kilu, CEO of LHV Pank.

"For me as a professional LHV has always been the best employer and for me as a client it has been the bank with the best service," Kadri Kiisel commented. "I am confident that the inner complacency of our organization radiates outwards and makes it more attractive to also new customers. If they discover our services to be simple, fast and useful, it is a reason for satisfaction. LHV’s retail banking will continue with a good pace and will focus on digital solutions, in order to offer our customers the best overall banking experience," Kiisel added.

Kadri Kiisel will also continue on as the manager of AS LHV Finance, a subsidiary of LHV Pank. Andres Kitter, the former head of retail banking, will continue as a member of LHV bank’s Management Board and will lead the bank’s financial intermediaries business line as well as manage the UK branch.

Kadri Kiisel has acquired a MBA degree in finance from University of Tartu. She has worked in LHV Pank since 2011 starting as the manager of LHV Pank’s Tallinn branch, since 2017 she has been the head of branches and since 2018 a member of AS LHV Finance Management Board. Earlier she has worked as the purchase manager of Luku-Expert OÜ in 2006–2011 and a sales engineer in AS Merx in 2003–2006.

Kadri Kiisel holds 5 shares of AS LHV Group and has the opportunity to require 4556 shares of AS LHV Group for options issued in 2017 and 2018.

Record-breaking quarter resulted in a 10 million euro profit

In Q2 of 2018, AS LHV Group earned a consolidated net profit of EUR 10.0 million: the bank’s profit amounted to EUR 5.2 million and asset management’s profit to EUR 2.1 million. Additionally, LHV earned an extraordinary EUR 2.9 million profit from the sale of UAB Mokilizingas. Loan impairments were made in the amount of EUR 1.6 million and as a new factor the profit was influenced by the advance income tax, with a total impact of EUR 0.6 million in the second quarter.

The return on equity belonging to LHV’s shareholders was 27.7% in Q2 of 2018. Compared to Q1 of 2018 the group’s profit increased by EUR 5.8 million, and by EUR 5.2 million when compared to Q2 of the previous year.

The group’s consolidated loan portfolio grew by EUR 11 million (+1%; +EUR 34 million in Q1) and reached EUR 777 million. The consolidated deposits decreased by EUR 183 million (-11%; +EUR 188 million in Q1) reaching EUR 1,542 million. At the same time, the deposits related to payment intermediaries decreased by EUR 262 million. During the quarter the volume of funds managed by LHV rose by EUR 40 million (+4%; +EUR 24 million in Q1) and reached EUR 1,167 million.

"The most important keywords of the second quarter were the record-breaking growth of the bank’s client base, the sale of Mokilizingas, the significant revenue from institutional banking and updating the financial plan,” Madis Toomsalu, CEO of LHV Group commented.

“During the second quarter, the number of the bank’s clients increased by record-breaking 6,800. During Q2 the total number of banking clients reached 147 thousand. More than 3,700 investment agreements were concluded and another significant milestone was reached in the number of card transactions,” Toomsalu added.

AS LHV Group posted a consolidated profit of EUR 14.3 million for the first six months of 2018. The bank earned a profit of EUR 8.8 million and asset management EUR 2.8 million. The half-year profit was EUR 4.4 million higher than for the same period last year.

AS LHV Group interim report 2nd quarter of 2018
AS LHV Group Presentation to Investors July 2018