Banks, Financial Services, Legislation, Lithuania, Loan

The company says that it will transfer the trademarks, websites and systems to another undertaking.

“Consumer credit trademarks SMScredit.lt and vivus.lt, the related websites and systems will be transferred to another consumer credit provider effective from Friday hence consumers will be able to continue using the services provided at the websites SMScredit.lt and vivus.lt, concluding contracts and obtaining loans, which will simply be provided by another undertaking,” 4finance CEO and co-owner, Gediminas Velicka, said in a press release.

The central bank said earlier on Friday that 4finance had been removed from the list of consumer credit lenders due to multiple violations.

The Lithuanian company is controlled by Luxembourg-registered 4finance Holding via a Latvian company.

“The most stringent statutory sanction was applied for multiple violations of legal acts and for non-compliance with the supervisory institution’s instructions to eliminate them… Cases of non-compliance with legal acts undermine confidence in the financial system, its participants; therefore this was not and will not be tolerated in the future,” Vytautas Valvonis, director of the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania, said in a press release.

In January through September, 4finance held the largest share – of 37.8% – of the consumer credit market in terms of the amount of credits granted. The company is controlled by Luxembourg-registered 4finance Holding via a Latvian company.

Earlier this year, the central bank imposed a fine of EUR 3,620 on the head of 4finance. In 2012, it was warned about compliance with responsible lending regulations and was fined EUR 4,500 in 2013.