Banking and finance in the Baltic countries

The financial sectors in the Baltic countries have developed quite rapidly over recent years and there are currently no immediate threats to their stability.However, the Baltic financial sectors are still below the level of development of the financial sectors in EU countries.The difference is remarkable both in the level of financing but also in the variety of instruments available in the markets.Even the banking sectors, which dominate the financing in the Baltic countries, are relatively small.The Baltic security markets are lagging behind the other EU accession countries and the development of that sector has been stagnant even during the recent period of growth. Key words: financial systems, banking, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania