The Scandinavian financial group Swedbank has received the green light to take over the Lithuanian retail banking business of Danske Bank, the second-biggest financial group in Northern Europe by assets.
The Lithuanian Competition Council cleared the deal, whose value is not being disclosed, on Tuesday.
"The transferred share of Danske Bank Lithuania Branch's assets, rights and liabilities in the relevant markets cannot be considered significant," it said.
Swedbank and Danske Bank said that the service transfer would be carried out between Jun. 3 and Jun. 6 and would be free of charge to customers.
"Specialization of banks is a widespread phenomenon in the world. From now on Danske Bank will focus on the activity which is the strong side of the bank, i.e. on business and private banking, in Lithuania," Gintautas Galvanauskas, CEO of the Danske Bank branch, said in a press release.
Danske Bank signed the deal on the sale of its retail banking business in Lithuania and Latvia to Swedbank last September.
Swedbank spokesman Saulius Abraskevicius told BNS that the terms of the agreement provided that it would take effect after obtaining approval from the Competition Council.
The service transfer will affect over 86,000 customers of Danske Bank in Lithuania. The Lithuanian loan portfolio subject to the transfer amounts to around 484 million euros.
According to the Competition Council, Swedbank held a 30-40% share of the retail banking market in the first half of 2015 and Danske Bank held 0-5%. The combined market share of the two banks amounted to 40-50%.
SEB Bankas held a 20-30% market share by revenue and DNB Bankas held 10-20%.
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