Swedbank EN

Swedbank has been given the go-ahead by Lithuania’s Competition Council to take over the retail banking business of Danske Bank in Lithuania.

Gitanas Nausėda, Žygimantas Mauricas and Nerijus Mačiulis, all economists at leading commercial banks in Lithuania, are optimistic about Lithuania's economy in the coming year but they highlighted some of the greatest economic risks Lithuania faces in the coming year - most of them international rat...

A growing number of self-employed people in Lithuania indicates the spread of the spirit of entrepreneurship, say economists.

Scandinavian banks are no longer interested in expanding lending in Lithuania due to falling returns, said Stasys Kropas, the president of the Association of Lithuanian Banks.

The Swedish banking group Swedbank has announced it is opening a new service centre in Lithuania that will employ 400 people. Five more investors are interesting in moving some of their operations to Lithuania, the country's foreign investment agency says.

Swedbank is setting up a services centre in Lithuania which will create 400 new jobs, lrytas.lt reports.

Stronger growth in the Eurozone and a stabilising international environment, supported by strong domestic consumption should boost Lithuanian businesses in 2016, according to Swedbank.

Swedbank, one of the biggest commercial and retail banks in Lithuania, has ousted its chief executive, Michael Wolf. He will be replaced by Birgitte Bonnesen as acting CEO.

Swedbank Lithuania’s net profit fell 21% to €85 million in 2015 driven by lower income from the introduction of the euro and credit impairments. The bank made a profit of €108 million in 2014.

After riding themselves of dependence on unpredictable markets in Russia Lithuanian exporters are facing another potential crisis in Poland, according to Swedbank economist Nerijus Mačiulis.

“The beginning of 2016 was one of the worst years in history for raw material and stock prices,” said Swedbank Chief Economist Nerijus Mačiulis. On Tuesday, he presented his projections for economic growth in Lithuania, and the prospects for exports and the international economy.

Commercial banks in Lithuania have still not developed a common alternative for code cards, whose use will be restricted from April.

Last year, steady steady growth in new personal and mortgage loans was observed by Swedbank. The total value of new mortgage loans issued over the last three quarters of last year alone (at €740 million) surpassed the value of all mortgage loans issued in 2014.

While the global fall in stock markets is affecting the performance of the Lithuanian and Baltic stock markets, the macro-economic performance of Lithuania and the Baltic states will have more of an influence on whether stocks rise or fall in the near future.

Swedbank's deal with Danske Bank on taking over the latter's retail banking services might put the Swedish bank into a dominant market position and therefore will need to be signed off by the Competition Council, a lawyer says. Still, there should be no trouble securing the competition watchdog's ap...

A Baltic Sea region index compiled by Swedbank shows that despite considerable progress, Lithuania is still not as competitive as it could be. Lithuania was placed among the top third of the most competitive countries in the world, which is a better result than last year, but essential progress is s...

The Swedbank group is the highest-valued company in the Baltic states. The company's worth grew 22 percent over the last year to reach EUR 3.9bn. It tops the list of the ten highest-valued companies in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Expert panelists shared their insights into sustainability as a driver for business growth at an event by Lithuanian Professionals in Sweden (LPS), at the Swedbank headquarters near Stockholm on Thursday.

Although the volume of exports of Lithuania's goods and services to Russia shrank significantly due to Moscow's embargo, which was imposed on a year ago, it has had only a minimal impact on Lithuania's economy, says Vaiva Šečkutė, senior economist at Swedbank Lithuania.