The financial intelligence units (FIU) of the Baltic States have conducted a first joint study of cash flows in the region, BNS reports. The study showed that the risks and vulnerabilities related to the flow of cash have changed in the region in 2019-2022. While there is a significant flow of cash from all three…
Lithuanian commercial banks and other credit institutions are due to pay a total of over EUR 50mn in temporary solidarity tax by 31 August 2023, BNS reports. Banks will have to pay the full tax for 2023 by 15 June 2024. The tax is calculated based on net interest income that exceeds the average income…
The number of non-cash payments in Latvia totalled 394.2mn in the first half of 2023, which was 10% more than in the same period of 2022, the Bank of Latvia reported. The total value of non-cash payments amounted to EUR 150.7bn, which was up 26% from a year earlier. The average number of payments was…
Latvia’s central bank, the Bank of Latvia, supports the Finance Ministry’s plan to introduce a mandatory requirement that banks pay corporate income tax on their profits in advance, LSM reports. Martins Kazaks, governor of the Bank of Latvia, argued that the solution should be permanent, thus ensuring that banks contribute to the state budget every…
The average interest rates on home loans in the Baltic States stood at 5.12% in the second quarter of 2023, which was 3 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2022, ERR reports. The average rate was the highest in 14 years. The Baltic States have the highest mortgage interest rates in the…
The Baltic banking group, Luminor Bank, made a net profit of EUR 53.2mn in the second quarter of 2023, which was up 81% from the same period of 2022, ERR reports. The group attributed the sharp rise in profit to an improvement in net interest income. Meanwhile, operating expenses increased by 72% amid investments in…
Estonian consumers made purchases using payment cards, both home and abroad, for a total sum of around EUR 2.5bn in the second quarter of 2023, which was up 5.3% from a year earlier, according to data from the Bank of Estonia, ERR reports. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, card payments rose by 15.2%….
Estonia’s Bigbank posted a net profit of EUR 17.0mn in the first half of 2023, which was up 21% from EUR 14.1mn in the same period of 2022, GlobeNewswire reports. Net interest income amounted to EUR 46.7mn (EUR 39.7mn) and net fee and commission income to EUR 4.0mn (EUR 3.6mn). In the second quarter of…
Lithuania’s Modus Asset Management has secured EUR 58mn of debt financing from Poland’s BNP Paribas Bank Polska and PKO Bank Polski, The Baltic Times reports. Modus Asset Management’s Modus Poland Solar Fund I will use the funds to finance the acquisition of a 93 MW solar farm portfolio in Poland. The fund now owns over…