Around 30 members joined December Business After Hours at Luminor Customer Service Center Terbata to hear the economic forecast for 2020 from a leading Economist in Latvia and find out Luminor transformation process from Luminor Latvia’s Country Manager.

According to Kerli Gabrilovica, Luminor Latvia’s Country Manager, Luminor plans to build a Pan-Baltic bank with local group of people, developing products for local market. Their core business is to serve entrepreneurial people in the Baltics. The bank's transformation started back in August 2016 when two competitors decided to merge. Currently 600 IT people are working for the bank to complete the transformation and develop new products and services. Luminor is the 3rd largest banking group in Baltics with 1 mln customers, 2,5 mln employees, 17% market share in deposits and 24% in lending. Bank offers 25 customer service centers with full scale of services across all 3 countries as well as 9 meet-up points and 15 self-service points.

According to Peteris Straudins, Luminor economist, GDP forecast for 2019 is 2,9%, inflation 2,4%, unemployment 6,2% and wage growth 6,0%. Lending rates are low and interest rates have been stable for last 3 years. Labour market remains strong, however employment opportunities in regions vary widely. The capital of Latvia increasingly relies on booming white collar service exports, currently advantageous specialisation in manufacturing (machinery, electronics, pharmaceuticals) and is supported by the gradual pick-up of housing construction is the best positioned. Areas with a high share of timber sector (Vidzeme) and heavy reliance on railway and port employment (Daugavpils and Ventspils) are more exposed to risks.

To view the presentation of Peteris Strautins

Thank you Luminor bank for hosting an exciting and educational event!

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