Banks, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia

Svenska Handelsbanken is currently working on opening the branch. If preparations proceed as planned, the Svenska Handelsbanken branch in Latvia will be opened in mid-May," Hauka said.

The aim of Svenska Handelsbanken is to attract both local and international potential customers and to retain existing ones.

Svenska Handelsbanken registered a branch in Latvia on October 5 last year. The office is located on Cesu Street, in Riga.

Svenska Handelsbanken's basic share is SEK 2,888,193,566 (LVL 222,679,724), as the official government newspaper Latvijas Vestnesis reports.

In April last year newspaper Diena informed that Svenska Handelsbanken was planning to open a branch in Latvia, which would be the next successive step in forming a network of bank's Baltic branches.

"Branch opening is at its initial stage, it could start operating in a year's time," Hauka then explained to the newspaper.

Svenska Handelsbanken in Latvia will be a full service bank, serving both corporate and private clients, placing emphasis on the corporate sector, Hauka informs. "Tallinn branch has been operating for almost a year. The decision to open a branch in Latvia was taken because our customers need a network of branches of a Baltic scale."

Latvian Commercial Banks' Association President Teodors Tverijons believes that coming in of Svenska Handelsbanken will not bring any crucial changes to the Latvian market, however, in an interview to the newspaper he emphasizes on the gains for the customers: "This testifies of the importance of Latvia as a financial hub. Baltic region in general is a battlefield for competition of Swedish banks, as this is already the third bank from Sweden that intends to obtain a market share here."

Expert foresees that part of customers of the major banks in Baltics might transfer to Svenska Handeslbanken depending on the conditions that the bank will offer.