Banks, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation

Danske Bank's services center in Vilnius should continue its operations, according to information available to BNS. 

Kenni Leth, head of press relations at Denmark's Danske Bank, declined to comment.   "We are currently in silence ahead of our upcoming Q1 financial report due tomorrow and as such we are not able to comment on any questions related to the future. Furthermore, we never comment on rumors or speculation," he told BNS in a comment.

Danske Bank in 2016 divested its retail banking business in the Baltic countries, selling its operations in Lithuania and Latvia to the Swedbank Group. It is not ruled out that it may sell its business and private banking operations to the Swedish group as well.

Set up in 2012, Danske Bank's Global Services Center in Vilnius handles financial transactions and provides non-banking services to the group. Danske Bank's IT services center, opened in the Lithuanian capital in 2014, develops and supports electronic financing solutions for the bank's customers. The two centers employ about 2,000 IT professionals.

Neither the Finance and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) nor the Latvian branch of Danske Bank would comment on the reports of the bank’s plan to leave the Baltics.

Zanke Strade, Danske Bank’s spokeswoman in Latvia, told LETA that she would not comment the report.

FCMC spokeswoman Ieva Upleja told LETA that the she could neither confirm nor deny the information that Danske Bank was planning to leave Latvia. “We respect the market player’s rights, and I am not authorized to say anything before the bank itself has provided any information,” said Upleja.