The Baltic Business Conference working session on financial services
will be chaired by Indrek Neivelt, Chairman of the Board of Hansabank and
Chairman of the Council of Hansabanka. It will focus on the Baltic region bank
development as well as discuss the increasing competition in the financial sector.
- I think the Latvian investment environment has a very positive
outlook and activities will increase as recovery from the economical slowdown continues.
Special attention should be given to the development of the ports and
transit sector. In my opinion Latvia can be compared with Singapore and Hong Kong 20-30
years ago – they all had big neighbours but also had good port facilities and therefore
the growth potential and perspective for Latvia is good.
Taking into account the size of the market in my opinion there is a
market for a maximum of three universal banks and for several small niche banks that are
focused on a specific product area or targeted to specific customer group.
Future linked with InternetFuture linked with InternetFuture linked
with Internet
I strongly believe that Internet banking services will become
the dominant transaction tool and therefore it will be the main distribution channel for
banking services soon. We expect that in five years 50% of all basic banking transactions
will be done via the Internet.
Hansabank´s aim is to be the leading provider of Internet
banking solutions and we have invested a lot in it. At the same time we don’t expect
that the Internet will take over all business. In the near future banks will
operate as Internet banks with effective and significant branch networks and call
centres. Baltic banks are competitive in the Baltic region but not in other European
countries – we know the local environment and have a lot of knowledge about the needs of
local customers.
Co-operation in the field of investment
The Baltic Business Conference which is organised on the occasion of
the EBRD Annual Meeting, has a significant role to play in drawing attention to the Baltic
region as a whole in the context of global economic development. We expect that during the
event important issues regarding the investment environment, regional co-operation and
future prospects will be addressed in front of international and regional policy-makers,
opinion leaders, entrepreneurs and financiers.
