European Central Bank

The governor of the Bank of Lithuania believes the European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest increase of key interest rates may be the last one in efforts to tame inflation.

As a result of changes in financing conditions and uncertainty about the outlook for economic growth, the growth of the bank loan portfolio was the lowest over the past two years. The quality of bank lending remained stable, while bank profits and interest income continued to accelerate, stated the ...

Europe’s economy, freshly battered by coronavirus restrictions, is facing a sluggish recovery next year that leaves it open to rising company failures and long-term unemployment.

When economic historian Charles Kindleberger charted the rise of financial centers around the world in 1973, he doubted London could take the top spot in Europe’s growing union of states: “Sterling is too weak, and British savings too little.” Instead, after assessing various cities’ economies of sc...

The euro-zone is setting its sights on standards for green bond issuance -- a move that could boost a rapidly expanding market worth nearly $1 trillion.

PayRay, a Lithuanian financial sector company, has started a new page of its business service activities. It has now begun operating as a bank and will soon start collecting deposits, as well as further focusing on developing capital financing solutions for businesses, the company announced in a pre...

Following the assessment and proposal of the Bank of Lithuania, AB Fjord Bank has been granted a specialised bank licence by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Lithuania's Finance Ministry is not changing its outlook and continues to estimate that the country's economy will slow next year, although it still will exceed the EU average.

Moody's Investors Service has upgraded Lithuania's long-term credit rating's outlook from stable to positive. And S&P Global Ratings once again affirms it’s A rating with a stable outlook.

Stasys Jakeliunas, former chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament’s Committee on Budget and Finance, plans to ask the government to appeal against prosecutors' decision not to defend the public interest in regard to alleged violations linked to a sharp increase in the Vilnius Interbank Offered Rate (V...

The financial market's new participants' interest in Lithuania has cooled, the head of the country's central bank Vitas Vasiliauskas says, citing discussions and doubts n the country's over the credibility of certain startups.

As a money laundering scandal has involved at least several banks operating in the Baltic states, the European Central Bank president on Thursday raised an idea of establishing a special institution to fight this problem.

During its meeting in Vilnius on Thursday, the European Central Bank's Governing Council did not change its monetary policy, the ECB said.

The US private equity giant Blackstone Group's acquisition of a majority stake in Luminor, one of the largest pan-Baltic banks, is likely to be closed in the second half of 2019, rather than in the originally planned first half of the year.

Members of the Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Budget and Finance (CBF), which is looking into the circumstances surrounding the 2009-2010 economic crisis, say the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) should have contributed more to assessing the causes and effects of the glo...

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis believes that another review is needed to determine if Revolut, a UK-based fintech startup that is setting up a specialized bank in Lithuania, meets the country's national security interests.

Luminor, one of the largest banking groups in the Baltic states, established after Nordea and DNB merged their operations in the Baltic states, denies media reports it wants to sell at least part of its mortgage portfolio Estonia.

A month ago, Lithuania was the first country in Europe to grant a specialised banking license to the company Revolut, which caused member of Seimas Stasys Jakeliūnas suspicions. The MP contacted the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) and State Security Department (VSD), asking them to chec...

On Friday European Merchant UAB was granted the license issued by ECB, European Central Bank through the Bank of Lithuania to engage in specialized banking activities. The provision of services is planned to start in June 2019.

The cabinet’s tax and public sector policy is not contributing to resolving income inequality issues, Bank of Lithuania board chairman Vitas Vasiliauskas says.

The Netherlands is building new coalitions within the EU to compensate for the loss of the UK as the union's main free trade champion, and has found partners in the Baltic States. At the same time, a domestic policy issue involving gas supplies and the Dutch stance on Russia have the potential to pu...

Antanas Guoga tells us why he is betting big on blockchain technologies. The Lithuanian EPP group deputy knows a winner when he sees one, and he is very excited by the opportunities that blockchain technologies can offer. He finds the technology "fascinating".

Record-low interest rates and employees' confidence about their financial future have been heating the Lithuanian real estate market.

Growing consumer prices have irked many in Lithuania a year and a half after the country switched to the euro. While the prime minister has blamed it on retailer mark-ups, economists point to other reasons.

Sweden's banking group SEB is considering to introduce negative interest rates on deposits held by large business clients in the Baltic States, vz.lt reports.

Negative interbank interest rates are making life easier for Lithuanian borrowers, both consumers and businesses, but Lithuania’s financial experts are worried that it may create another financial crisis and could be sign of a coming economic downturn.

Lithuania's economy will grow by 2.8% in 2015 despite a range of headwinds, driven on by increased consumer spending, low oil prices and a recovering Eurozone, according to SEB Bank’s latest projections.

Lithuanian consumers and businesses saved some €40 million due to lower interest rates after the adoption of the euro a year ago, economists at the Bank of Lithuania say. Costs were also cut on currency exchange and due to lower rates on international money transfers.

On 19 November, a shipment of euro banknotes arrived in Vilnius International Airport. From there, the euro banknotes, with a police escort, were safely delivered to the Bank of Lithuania's vaults, the country's central bank said.