Vitas Vasiliauskas said what he finds most strange about this situation is that doubts about the credibility of Revolut emerged after it was granted the license.
"The licensing process was really long and we worked with all the necessary authorities in the process both in Lithuania and abroad. Revolut is an international group and, therefore, we worked with a number of foreign supervisory authorities and checked the information that is now being publicly discussed," the chairman of the Bank of Lithuania's board told reporters.
"We looked at all aspects and gave a positive opinion, after which the European Central Bank issued Revolut with the banking license," he added.
Vasiliauskas said doubts that are being raised about Revolut's credibility at the political level are negatively affecting the image of Lithuania which is striving to become a fintech hub.
"We need to think not only about certain public relations, but also about what this brings to Lithuania," he said.
"Fintech as a strategy is on the government's agenda. The Finance Ministry, the Bank of Lithuania and Invest Lithuania are jointly moving toward presenting the jurisdiction, taking up the opportunities are opening up in the context of Brexit (and) creating additional competitive factors in Lithuania."
Vasiliauskas admitted that Lithuania, which positions itself as an attractive jurisdiction for fintech operations, will likely attract not only new players, but additional risks as well, adding that the central bank is getting ready for that.
"In don't think we can expect to completely avoid incidents, because every financial market participant has a certain risk element. (...) The question we have to answer here is whether we want a breakthrough in this area or we continue to live with banks of several colors," he said.
"Given that fintech is on the agenda, the state has already made its choice and we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot once and for all."
Lithuania in December became the first European country to issue Revolut with a specialized bank license.
A week later, Stasys Jakeliunas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Budget and Finance, asked law-enforcement and intelligence bodies to look into the fintech firm's business model and its possible links to Russian politicians.
The Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) reported on Tuesday that the father of Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky works for a company of Russia's gas group Gazprom. The public broadcaster also raised questions as to DST Global's possible links to the Kremlin and the location of Revolut servers.
Storonsky said in an open letter on Wednesday that Revolut's severs are only located in the EU and the UK.
The CEO said DST Global, a Hong Kong-based fund that has invested in the startup, does not have any investors from Russia. One of the fund's investors, Russia-born Yuri Milner, who is linked by the media to the Kremlin, is of Jewish nationality and lives in the United States.
He added that DST Global is a passive minority investor that has no influence on the company's decisions.
