Thanks to this partnership Lithuanian small and medium sized companies will get a
valuable financial support to use when there is a need to maintain and develop their
daily business. In addition, the bank will offer account opening and cash
management services to these SMEs.
Vaidas Žagūnis, Head of Corporate banking for Baltics and member of the
Management Board of Citadele Bank, says: “Business companies are especially
important contributors of the Baltics economy; therefore, Citadele is looking for ways
how to support these companies beyond providing banking services itself. The newly
established cooperation will allow supporting SMEs’ business growth by offering
faster, more flexible and tailor-made financing alternatives.”
Mindaugas Mikalajūnas, CEO of SME Finance, says: “We are thrilled to announce
our partnership with Citadele as it will enable us to meet rapidly growing demand for
non-banking factoring services among Lithuanian businesses. Surveys conducted by
the EU Commission show that Lithuania occupies leading positions in the EU in
regard to relevance of factoring services to companies and actual usage of factoring
services among businesses.
Towards the end of 2019 trade credit assets of Lithuanian non-financial corporation rose by 12% and reached historical highs – this is clear indication that Lithuanian companies are becoming increasingly reliant on trade financing services. Lithuanian companies are increasingly looking for flexible trade financing solutions, and this is where the experience of SME Finance and Citadele bank teams comes in handy. I can only emphasize that our partnership Citadele comes at a perfect timing.”
Few months ago, Citadele has announced a partnership with Europe's most
advanced lending platform, Fellow Finance, which brings together individuals,
businesses and investors, and German financial technology (FinTech) company
CrossLend that takes care of the securitization of the loan investments.
Citadele is the first bank in the Baltic states, and one of the first in Europe, to issue
consumer loans through a peer-to-peer lending platform.
