The most loved brand in the Baltic States is the Swedish banking group, Swedbank, according to the Baltic Brand Forum 2025 survey, The Baltic Times reports. Lithuanian supermarket chain Maxima ranked second, followed by Estonia’s state-owned logistics group, Omniva, and German supermarket chain Lidl. The top four ranking remained unchanged from 2024. US technology company…
Lithuania’s two largest banks have raised their inflation forecasts for 2025, BNS reports. SEB Bank now expects annual inflation to reach 3.3% in 2025, while Swedbank’s forecast now stands at 3.0%. In November 2025, both banks projected that annual inflation would reach 2.7% in 2025. The banks kept their inflation forecast for 2026 unchanged at…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has passed amendments mandating the country’s largest banks to provide in-person customer service and to maintain a network of ATMs outside big cities as of 2026, LSM reported. The new rules will apply to Swedbank, SEB, Citadele, and Luminor. Currently, the big banks have no permanent customer service points in…
A court of appeal in Sweden has sentenced former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen to 15 months in prison over money laundering at the bank’s Estonian branch, BNS reports, citing AFP. The court found that Bonnesen had provided shareholders with false information about measures taken at the branch to prevent money laundering. The appellate court overturned…
Representatives from Lithuania’s five largest commercial banks — Citadele, Luminor, OP Corporate Bank, SEB Bank, and Swedbank — met with Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte to express dissatisfaction with the extension of the windfall tax on bank profits, BNS reports. They voiced concerns over the unpredictability of the investment environment and the lack of cooperation between…
Estonia’s real GDP will continue to decline by 0.3% in 2024 but will increase by 2.8% in 2025, according to Swedbank’s latest macroeconomic forecast, ERR reports. The bank expects the current recession in Estonia to end in the middle of 2024. Moderate growth will return in 2025, driven by stronger domestic demand and exports. Annual…
Latvia’s largest commercial bank, Swedbank Latvija, posted a net profit of EUR 274mn in 2023, which was a more than double increase from EUR 132mn in 2022, LSM reports. Net interest income rose by EUR 193mn and net commission income by EUR 5mn over a year. Total expenditure amounted to EUR 138mn, which was up…
Estonia’s Swedbank posted a net profit of EUR 385mn in 2023, which was up EUR 193mn (nearly 100%) from the same period of 2022, ERR reports. Revenue rose by EUR 309mn over a year, with net interest income up EUR 244mn. New loans issued to private customers amounted to EUR 1.05bn (up 5%) and to…
Commercial banks and other credit institutions in Lithuania have paid EUR 56mn in temporary solidarity tax for the second quarter of 2023, according to the Finance Ministry’s preliminary data, BNS reports. Altogether 18 credit institutions made the first quarterly advance payment by the deadline of 31 August 2023. Swedbank paid EUR 25mn, followed by SEB…