Banks, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Investments, Latvia

A group of EBRD experts visited Latvia this week to meet with the Finance Ministry’s representatives and discuss the launch of several projects under the European Commission’s structural reform support program that are aimed at developing the capital market.

The program’s projects are directly aimed at increasing the activity of the Latvian capital market, which is being regarded as perspective, the Finance Ministry’s representatives said. There is a plan to use the program to broaden the range of financial instruments available on the market by working out a legal framework for financial instruments like covered bonds, securitization and derivatives.

The plan is to analyze the possibility of a pan-Baltic development of these financial instruments to increase investors interest in investing in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Additionally, an action plan will be worked out to help the Latvian capital market achieve a higher rating, which would help attract investors’ interest and enable Latvian businesses to attract capital on the stock exchange, the ministry’s representatives said.

A separate project is planned to develop support instruments that would make listing process easier and less costly, thus facilitating the listing of small and medium-sized enterprises and strengthening the private sector in general.

The project proposals were discussed with experts from the Financial and Capital Market Commission, the Bank of Latvia, Nasdaq Riga, the Treasury of the Republic of Latvia, the Association of Latvian Commercial Banks, as well as market participants. Participants of the meeting expressed support for the project proposals and pledged active participation in the program’s implementation.