2015-11-23
V. Vasiliauskas: Chinese business interested in possibilities to invest in payment services infrastructure in Lithuania
Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, will begin his visit in Beijing (The People’s Republic of China) with a meeting on Monday, 23 November, with the management of the Chinese company IZP Technologies Group. During the visit, it is planned to discuss the possibilities for this company to invest in Lithuania’s payments market.
“Previous contacts with IZP Technologies Group have confirmed that we are interesting and have what to offer to China’s financial and payment services business,” said Vitas Vasiliauskas before the meeting. According to him, enterprises in China seek greater operational effectiveness and faster development in Europe; therefore, our market may be attractive to them both as a final investment direction and an intermediary stop on the road towards a broader EU economic area.
In June this year, the Bank of Lithuania and IZP Technologies Group, which includes the largest international payments operator in Asia, signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of the payments infrastructure in Lithuania.
“Seeking to more effectively utilise economic capacities and increase enterprise competitiveness, China encourages its companies to invest in foreign markets. We have reason to believe that our successful cooperation in the field of the payment services market would encourage a greater interest of Chinese investors in also the entire Lithuanian economy,” said V. Vasiliauskas.
The company Globebill, which belongs to IZP Technologies Group, is responsible for payments by which residents and businessmen in Europe and other regions pay for the goods of Chinese manufacturers. Currently, the Globebill network, via different local payment systems in 104 countries of the world, is connected with Europe, Australia and South America. The company holds 60 per cent of China’s cross-border payments market.
The Bank of Lithuania is consistently developing relations with China’s financial sector institutions. The agreement on cooperation in the field of securities regulation between the Bank of Lithuania and China’s Securities Regulatory Commission in September 2013 opened the way for Lithuania’s financial institutions to directly invest in China’s capital market.
The Bank of Lithuania is among the first central banks in the European Union to have invested in China, and the first bank of the European System of Central Banks to have obtained the status of a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) in China.