Discussions on Polish banks coming to Lithuania are very far advanced: this will happen in the near future

“I think we have not yet used the full potential of our possible cooperation. We have many plans in the field of economic cooperation and we are waiting for Polish banks to come to Lithuania. I know that the discussions on this issue are already very far advanced”, G. Nausėda told journalists during the press conference of the Presidents of Lithuania and Poland “Brave Griffin 24-II” in Dirmiškės.

Last week, speaking about the improving relations with neighboring countries, Mr. Nausėda mentioned that the close relationship with Poland will determine the entry of Polish banks into the Lithuanian market in the near future.

Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, said at the beginning of the year that one of the largest Polish banks, Pekao, could come to Lithuania already this year. However, according to G. Šimkaus, no application has yet been received regarding the opening of a branch, branch or subsidiary bank of his foreign bank in Lithuania.

ELTA already announced that in mid-December G. Šimkus and the member of the board of the Bank of Lithuania Simonas Krėpšta had received the delegation of the Polish commercial bank “Pekao”. Both G. Šimkus and Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė have already mentioned that the interest in the Lithuanian market is felt from abroad, they said that the arrival of a new participant is probably only a matter of time.

At the moment, 18 participants operate in the Lithuanian banking sector: 13 have bank licenses, another 5 operate as branches of foreign banks. The majority of the market is held by Swedbank, SEB and Luminor.