Swedbank looking to expand in Lithuania and Latvia

DELFI / Mindaugas Ažušilis

After acquiring retail banking businesses in Lithuania and Latvia from the Danish Danske Bank, the Swedish Swedbank is looking for more acquisitions in these countries.

“We are ready to buy the portfolios of other banks in Latvia and Lithuania. We can’t do that in Estonia due to the size of market share,” Priit Perens, the head of Baltic banking at Swedbank, told Bloomberg.

He explained that Swedbank wants to grow because, in the Baltic states, the bank has “attracted more deposits than loans.”

Perens also said that Lithuania “is clearly the most dynamic” of Baltic markets because of the new international office centres being opened and country’s mortgage growth. However, he also said, “I’m cautiously optimistic on all three Baltic countries. The biggest risk now is that a potential exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union or Germany becoming isolated as a result of the migration crisis could lead to Europe splintering and create a geopolitical vacuum in our region.”

Verslo Žinios

You may like

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


RECOMMENDED ARTICLES