"The new office brings NIB closer to its Baltic stakeholders, supporting the Bank’s strategic objectives to further enhance the outreach in the region," it said in a statement. NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries.
The board of directors of NIB visited the new premises during a meeting in Riga. Initially the new office will serve as a workspace and meeting place, and is expected "to become a regional hub that will strengthen collaboration with the Bank’s Baltic owners and clients" with the bank saying it "aims to expand its lending to Baltic private sector companies."
“Riga is the perfect location for our business hub – it improves the coverage of our client base in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and it also provides efficient travel connections to the other Nordic-Baltic countries. We were delighted with the reception from the Latvian government from the moment we disclosed our plans to set up our hub here,” said André Küüsvek, NIB President and CEO.
NIB’s Senior Banker and Country Lead for Latvia will be Kaspars Pīlādzis, who said: “In recent years, NIB has financed various infrastructure, energy and construction projects in the Baltics, mainly financing companies in the public sector. Looking ahead, our operations will pivot more towards collaboration with privately owned companies and an ever-stronger focus on the green transition.”
NIB’s new regional office is in the Citadele Business Centre in the heart of Rīga.
Latvia joined NIB in 2005 with the other Baltic countries. The Bank has been investing in the country already since 1995, providing approximately EUR 1.5 billion in financing to more than 120 projects. Some of NIB’s latest financed projects in Latvia are Rigas Siltums’ and Latnevergo’s investment programmes, Preses Nama kvartāls developments, and the Ķekava bypass road project.