Lietuvos bankinės sistemos struktūra

Abstract

At present there are 10 commercial banks operating in Lithuania. They can be divided into the three main categories: state banks (the Lithuanian Savings Bank (LSB), the Agricultural bank of Lithuania (ABL)), large-scale private banks (Vilnius Bank, Bank "Hermis") and small-scale private commercial banks. LSB and ABL maintain the leading position in their "native" market segments - respectively, in the retail banking and in providing services to the agricultural sector. Vilnius Bank and Bank "Hermis" are the most rapidly growing banks of the region, remarkable by their stable profit and good performance results. The rest private banks are looking for a niche as specialised or regional banks. In 1999 a considerable growth of the banking sector is projected, as at present the total assets of commercial banks constitute only 14 per cent of GDP, and that is one of the lowest ratios in the Central Europe. Also, the tendencies of the market concentration are observed: the Lithuanian State Commercial Bank (LSCB) has been merged with LSB, Vilnius Bank has an intention to acquire the majority stake of the Bank "Hermis".