Banks, Financial Services, Latvia, Security

"The Latvian government has done its home task and we have not got into the "grey list" [of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)]. Now time has come for banks to do their home tasks - start working so that the country's economy and competitiveness does not suffer," said Znotina.

She underscored that FID recently has been receiving more and more complaints from business representatives and associations, parliament lawmakers, the government representatives that FID "has burned everything in a fire".

"The banks are not aware yet how to "take" the allowed amounts of risk. A high-risk customer is not the one banks should avoid. If banks are not able to work with high-risk customers, if normative acts are misinterpreted, the country's economy and banks will suffer because the task of the bank is to earn profit in high risk environment," said Znotina.

"Banks should learn to understand risks and manage them. It is time to develop a different financial culture," she said.