In the current market situation, the four largest credit institutions in Latvia are Swedbank, SEB Bank, Citadele Bank, and the Latvian branch of Luminor Bank.
They will have to ensure a permanent presence in the administrative centers of the country's cities and municipalities that meet certain conditions, including the distance to another city where a permanent on-site service is already provided, the proportion of customers in the municipality and the population of the municipality, the Latvian central bank (Bank of Latvia) said in a press release.
Specific rules and criteria will be worked out by the Bank of Latvia.
In March 2024, there were 72 credit institutions' customer service points in Latvia, and in about half of the municipalities, none of the major credit institutions has its own permanent customer service point.
The Bank of Latvia estimates that the number of customer service outlets of credit institutions, including mobile outlets, could increase by one-third in Latvia due to these requirements.
However, the Bank of Latvia has indicated that there will be no return to the past, when a branch of a credit institution operated in every small town five days a week.
"Many people use financial services digitally and will not change their habits, so it is necessary to look for rational and flexible solutions that are designed for today's situation and have reasonable and justified costs," said the Bank of Latvia.
The Bank of Latvia has already started work on the development of rules.
The rules are expected to be issued by December 1, 2024, while the provision of the Credit Institution Law will enter into force on January 1, 2026.
The amendments to the Law on Credit Institutions adopted by the Saeima on Thursday also stipulate that the Russian language will no longer be available in ATMs of Latvian commercial banks.
It stipulates that the customer interface in ATMs will have to be provided in Latvian, while in addition they will be allowed to be set in the official languages of the Member States of the EU, OECD and candidate countries. ATMs will therefore no longer be in Russian.
These changes will enter into force on January 30, 2025 to allow credit institutions to implement the new provision requiring the reprogramming of ATMs.
