2026-01-23
Banking Sector in Q3 2025: Significant Growth in Loans and a New Supervisory Tool
Since the beginning of this year, a new player has entered Lithuania’s banking sector, while the performance during the three quarters of last year was mostly influenced by a significant increase in the profit of one bank. A new supervisory tool, the cyber resilience stress test, has been used to assess cyber risk.
“The role of the banking sector in the Lithuanian economy continues to be significant as banks actively finance both businesses and households, thus contributing to economic growth. Recently, the profitability ratios of banks have been declining, which indicates a return to a more balanced, sustainable profitability levels in the long run. At the same time, the number of market participants is increasing: the new bank operating since the beginning of 2026 contributes to strengthening the competitive environment and boosting the diversity of services on offer”, says Julita Varanauskienė, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Lietuvos bankas.
19 banks are currently operational in Lithuania, including six foreign bank branches. Since the beginning of 2026, the banking sector has gained one more participant – RATO Credit Union, now holding a specialised banking license and starting to operate as RATO bankas.
Revolut Holdings Europe (at the highest level of consolidation) continued to increase its market share by assets to 35.8%. Swedbank had a market share of 23.5% while SEB bankas held 17.7% and Artea bankas (formerly Šiaulių bankas, AB) held 6.2%. These four banks are directly supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB). The assets of foreign bank branches accounted for 13.9% of the banking sector’s total assets. These are dominated by Luminor Bank AS Lithuanian branch securing a share of 9.4%.
Within the nine months, Lithuania’s banking sector earned a profit of €816 million, which is 3.5% more than during the same period of 2024 (€788 million). This development was further driven by Revolut Group’s active expansion in various European Union (EU) countries enabling it to turn a profit 2.1 times bigger.
17 banks and foreign bank branches were profitable while 2 operated at a loss. The latter reported a combined loss of €3.5 million. The combined profits of the three largest banks (excluding Revolut Group) dropped by €38.5 million as compared to the three quarters of 2024 (6.8%) down to €528.2 million. At the same time, the combined profit of the nine smaller banks increased by €6.4 million, now amounting to €10.9 million.
Due to the rapid growth in assets, bank profitability ratios continued to decline: at the end of Q3 return on equity was 18.64% (20.62% a year before) and return on assets was 1.36% (1.64% a year before). The efficiency indicator showing the cost-to-income ratio stood at 43.56%, dropping by 0.22 pp over the year.
In Q3 2025, banks continued to lend actively to both households and businesses. The total loan portfolio grew by €2.1 billion over the quarter (6.1%) to €37.1 billion and by more than a fifth over the year.
Loans to households increased by €1 billion (5.4%) over the quarter, now standing at €19.6 billion. Among these, housing loans grew the fastest: they increased by €0.5 billion to €14 billion. Households have also been active in consumer loans. This loan portfolio grew by €376 million to €3.8 billion over the quarter. The growth of this portfolio was mainly influenced by loans to non-Lithuanian residents.
The business loan portfolio increased by €0.7 billion (5.1%) to €14.3 billion over the quarter. The largest increase was in the net worth of loans granted to companies engaged in professional, scientific and technical activities – €312 million (now amounting to €998 million). The value of loans granted to companies in wholesale and retail trade increased by €96 million reaching €2.37 billion, and by €66 million for real estate companies, now amounting to €3.76 billion.
At the end of Q3, banks held €72 billion in deposits. The deposits of Lithuanian residents amounted to €25 billion while those of non-residents reached almost €30 billion. The latter increased by €3.4 billion in Q3 (12.9%). The biggest influence on such growth was the intensive expansion of Revolut Group’s activities in various EU countries.
To assess the risk of cyber attacks, Lietuvos bankas has had its supervisory measures supplemented with a cyber resilience stress test. It helps to assess how financial institutions respond and recover when facing a complex cyber incident. The test is based on ECB’s Cyber Resilience Stress Test methodology. In 2025, it was applied to two credit institutions.
Quarterly information about each bank’s key performance indicators and compliance with prudential requirements is published on Lietuvos bankas’ website.
Banking activity reviews are available here.