2018-05-15
V. Vasiliauskas: China’s FinTechs already in Lithuania, yet the doors are still wide open
Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, who begins his visit in Beijing today, will attend the China Financial Summit 2018, inviting Chinese companies to take advantage of the environment conducive to FinTechs in Lithuania. He will also meet with the Deputy Governor of the country’s central bank and Chairman of the banking supervisory authority, with whom Mr Vasiliauskas will discuss the implementation of the memorandum on cooperation in banking supervision signed between both countries’ regulators.
‘China’s FinTech sector has already come on the scene in Lithuania. However, appreciating the scope of China’s huge innovation market and its growth potential, we seek for even more investors to take an interest in all the attractive possibilities for business development that Lithuania can offer. In addition, by strengthening the relations with China’s FinTech sector, the central bank and the banking supervisor, we will open the door to China more widely for our own business men and women,’ said Mr Vasiliauskas.
According to the Bank of Lithuania, last year about ten Chinese companies took an interest in the FinTech possibilities in our country, half of them were granted licences (four licences of an electronic money institution and one licence of a payment institution).
During his visit in China, Mr Vasiliauskas will present the main advantages of Lithuania’s regulatory landscape: one of the shortest licensing processes in all of the European Union and a wide choice of possible business models – from an e-money or payment institution to a specialised bank. Moreover, the Bank of Lithuania provides a unique opportunity for non-banking sector payment service providers – direct access to the central bank’s payments infrastructure.
It is estimated that by 2024 the annual growth of the global peer-to-peer lending market will amount to almost 50%. Further development of the FinTech sector in Lithuania could provide faster and simpler access to credit for companies and households, a more intensive competition within the financial sector and, ultimately, a stronger economic growth.
During the meetings with Chen Yulu, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Guo Shuqing, Head of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania will discuss changes in the financial sector and its regulation, investor opportunities, and trade relations between the EU and China, in addition to other topics at hand.
The Bank of Lithuania is consistently developing its relations with China’s financial sector institutions. With the Bank of Lithuania and the China Securities Regulatory Commission having agreed on cooperation in the field of securities regulation in 2013, Lithuania’s financial institutions were allowed to directly invest in China’s capital market. In order to exchange supervisory information, in 2015 the Bank of Lithuania signed a cooperation agreement with the China Banking Regulatory Commission, which also took over the function of insurance sector supervision this year.