Indignation does not quench the banks’ appetites: the expert believes that this could not be the case in the West | Business

As announced by the Bank of Lithuania, the banks operating in our country, based on unaudited data, earned 986 million last year EUR net profit – twice as much as in 2022 (EUR 491 million).

Nevertheless, some of them are going to increase service rates.

For example, SEB and Luminor make daily services more expensive.

Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Gediminas Šimkus reacted by saying that this is a sad fact.

“Financial services are not just another service you can choose. There is also the user’s attachment to the financial service provider, and there are certain regional and financial literacy issues that are not resolved so quickly.

Therefore, that rate hike is, unfortunately, both sensitive and painful for certain sections of society,” he said.

The government has agreed for linking the price of the basket of essential banking services for residents and small businesses with the minimum monthly salary, recalculating it every three years.

Such a proposal should still be approved by the Seimas.

In addition, several municipalities have already approached the Bank of Lithuania, concerned about the closure of commercial bank branches in smaller towns.

The head of the Lithuanian Banks Association, Eivilė Čipkutė, explained that Banks are closing branches because residents are coming less and less often.

Some solutions don’t look good