Best bank - Vilniaus Bankas
Best debt house - joint BNP Paribas & DrKW
Best equity house - Suprema Securities
Best M&A house - Prime Investments
Best local partner - Zabolis & Partners
Lithuania is the least developed of the three Baltic countries in terms of the proportion of the population that has banking relationships. There are three dominant banks in this market. Together, Vilniaus Bankas, Hansa-LTB and the Agricultural Bank have a market share of 75% of total assets.
Vilniaus Bankas, a subsidiary of Swedish bank SEB, rules the market with a market share of around 40% in assets, loans and deposits. Its closest competitor is Hansa-LTB, which has a 26% share of assets and 31% of deposits.
Vilniaus Bankas has seen impressive growth in its net profit of 33% to reach Lit126.5 million ($43 million) at the end of 2002 and earnings per share were Lit8.19, up from Lit6.16 a year ago. The bank's return on shareholders' equity rose from 15.1% to 16.9%. In 2002 the bank also saw 9% growth in the number of its corporate customers to reach 57,000.
Hansa-LTB will be the bank to watch next year.