Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Investments

"We are an influencer bank. With our open approach, we are an important partner for financial sector innovators and their link with the banking infrastructure. Where many large banks look down on new generation fintech intermediaries, often without bothering to take a deeper look at their plans, LHV welcomes every new player and goes along with them in thinking how financial intermediaries could implement their substantive ideas," the manager of the branch, Andres Kitter, said.

Existence of the U.K. branch will allow LHV Bank to join Pound Payments Systems and provide financial intermediaries with real-time payments service in both euros and pounds.

LHV Bank is already a direct member of the Euro Payments System and also participating in the Instant Payments System working group.  

"It is true that in the light of Brexit, many banks today are thinking about withdrawing from London, yet we knowingly swim against the tide. London has emerged as one of the most important financial centers where fintech companies from Europe and elsewhere are represented. The eyes of fintech remain focused on London as the financial center, and so are we," Kitter added.

At the opening of the London branch of LHV, former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, visionary Peter Vesterbacka and financial expert Mark Yeandle will participate in a discussion moderated by Sten Tamkivi, member of the supervisory board of LHV.

Although the London branch of LHV will formally open on Monday, work to put it in operation still continues. Nor has manning of the branch been completed yet.

LHV expects to reach the point where it starts offering services to fintech intermediaries in London by the end of this year.

According to Kitter, LHV is not planning to serve private customers or ordinary businesses at its London office. It will, however, offer services such as fast and convenient payment intermediation, liquidity management, currency exchange and similar to financial intermediaries there.

LHV Group's key subsidiaries are AS LHV Pank and AS LHV Varahaldus. LHV employs some 360 people and over 135,000 customers use LHV's banking services. Pension funds managed by LHV have over 176,000 active customers.