The following list of banks in Latvia is to be understood within the framework of the European single market and European banking union, which means that Latvia's banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU. The list leaves aside the country's National Central Bank within the Eurosystem, the Bank of Latvia.
Policy framework
European banking supervision distinguishes between significant institutions (SIs) and less significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by the European Central Bank (ECB). Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve the national competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries. Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB.[1] In Latvia's case, the NCA is the Bank of Latvia.[2]
Significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the ECB had three Latvian banking groups in its list of significant institutions:[3]
A study published in 2024 assessed that the bank with most aggregate assets in Latvia (as opposed to total consolidated assets) as of end-2023 was Swedbank at €9.3 billion, followed by SEB (€5.6 billion) and Citadele (€4.9 billion).[4] Luminor is also present in Latvia via a branch. No other SIs based in the euro area have subsidiaries in Latvia.[3]
- AS Citadele banka
- AS SEB banka, subsidiary of SEB Group
- Swedbank
Less significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included eight Latvian LSIs, three of which were designated by the ECB as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:[3]
The other five Latvian LSIs were:
As of October 2025, there were no branches of banks located outside the European Economic Area ("third-country branches" in EU parlance) in Latvia, based on data compiled by the European Banking Authority.[5]
- BluOr Bank AS
- AS Rietumu Banka
- Signet Bank AS
- AS Reģionālā investīciju banka
Credit unions
Latvia is one of six euro-area countries with credit unions, together with Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. Latvian credit unions are small cooperative credit institutions outside the scope of the EU Capital Requirements Directives,[6] and thus regulated and supervised under national law. At end-2024, there were 25 such Latvian credit unions with total assets of ca. €30 million (US$31 million).[7]
History of licensing
Defunct Banks
Several former Latvian banks are documented on Wikipedia, including multiple banks established in the early 1990s that failed only shortly afterwards. They are listed below in chronological order of establishment.
- Latvijas Kredītbanka (1937-1940)
- Latvian Land Bank (1989-1998)
- Trasta Komercbanka (1989-2016)
- Latvijas Krājbanka (1991-2011)
- Rīgas Komercbanka (1991-2018)
- Sakaru Banka (1991-1997)
- Latvian Industrial Bank (1991-1999)
- Riga United Baltic Bank (1991-1997)
- Ako Banka (1992-1996)
- Dālderis Komercbanka (1992-1993)
- Hansabank (1992-2008)
- Latintrādes Banka (1992-1995)
- LTN-Skonto Banka (1992-1995)
- Parex Bank
See also
- List of banks in the euro area
- List of banks in Europe
References
- What are less significant institutions? European Central Bank, 2024-8-2^
- Members and Observers European Banking Authority, retrieved 2025-11-19^
- List of supervised entities - Cut-off date for changes in group structures: 1 September 2025