Banks, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

According to Arlauskas, currently competitions in the baking system are not de facto. Over 90% of all the banks' property is governed by the Scandinavian banks to which Lithuania's is not a priority market. Furthermore, the main share of those 90% is controlled by two major banks which determine all the tendencies in the banking sector. It leads to low interest rates and deposits, writes LETA/ELTA.

Besides, the Scandinavian banks restrict granting loans and offer high interest rates, thus taking away an opportunity for the business sector to borrow in rational terms. It is especially important for small-scale and medium-scale companies. Such credit policy prevents from business development and economic growth.

One more consequence of competition in the finance system is bank service fees, which keep increasing. For instance, fees for international transfers in Lithuania are 8 times bigger than in neighbouring countries.

Arlauskas reminded that many of euro zone member-states are suffering from recession.

A number of analysts think that Sweden will be another country to face real estate crisis.

If this happened, the Nordic banks should completely concentrate on the "home" market. & The Baltic States are not of primary importance for the Scandinavian banks. & The most likely is that in such case the Baltic subdivisions would be sold and the only real buyers are Russian capital.

Therefore, according to Arlauskas, the government should firstly evaluate the risk and take more care of the Lithuanian finance sector which is equally important to the energy sector.