The international financial magazine Global Finance has named SEB internet bank as the best in Latvia for the second consecutive year. The winners were selected by a world-class judging panel who assessed the possibilities customers have and the level of service.

Ieva Tetere, member of SEB Latvia management board: "Internet bank continues to become and increasingly important channel for client servicing therefore we are investing significant resources to broaden the range of its opportunities and strengthen its security. We are glad that this has earned us international recognition, but the best reward for us is approval from our clients', which is signified by the stable usage of our internet bank both among private individuals and businesses."

SEB internet bank has more than 300 thousand active user and the total number of visits during first six months has exceeded 11 million. Within first half of this year clients have paid more than 8 million bills and the daily number of visits reaches 60 thousand.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of online customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and web site design and functionality.

Global Finance, founded in 1987, has a circulation of 50 050 and readers in 180 countries. Global Finance's audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers and other senior financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. This is the 15th year Global Finance has named the World's Best Internet Banks and the second consecutive year for SEB internet bank as the best in Latvia. This year SEB Estonia's internet bank has been named as the best in Estonia.