The Swedish bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB), which provides comprehensive financial services in the Baltic states, plans to consolidate its three Baltic legal entities into one through two cross-border mergers, as announced in a statement on Wednesday.
This consolidation aims to enhance customer growth in the region and simplify corporate governance. As usual, SEB will continue its banking operations across all three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. By changing its legal structure, SEB aims to leverage the strengths of the three local banks throughout the region, resulting in an improved financing capacity with a consolidated balance sheet.
“SEB is committed to providing our customers with the best advisory services and the broadest access to capital in the market. As our customers across the Baltic countries grow, we adapt to their needs. This change will bring clear benefits to our corporate customers, as the bank will be better equipped to support the increasing number of long-term and large-scale projects across the Baltics,” said Niina Äikäs, head of the Baltic Division at SEB, in the press release.
The new legal structure is also expected to benefit SEB’s retail customers in the Baltic region. “Our customers will experience a simplified governance structure, reducing the time to market for new products and solutions. SEB is committed to the Baltic region and is determined to continue developing its business here,” added Äikäs.
Subject to regulatory approvals, including permissions from local financial supervisory authorities and the European Central Bank (ECB), the new legal structure is projected to be operational by the beginning of 2027. The consolidated legal entity will be based in Estonia, with branches in Latvia and Lithuania.
