Baltic households hold tens of billions in bank deposits. The return: under 2%

Households across the Baltic states hold tens of billions of euros in bank deposits — pools that are still growing, in some cases at double-digit rates — even as the interest paid on those deposits hovers near historical lows. At the same time, data from the region's central banks and financial supervisors points to a quiet structural shift: market-linked financial assets are steadily taking up a larger share of Baltic household balance sheets, as a new generation of investors moves beyond the deposit habit.

Estonia: €33.5 billion in deposits and a decade of structural shift

Estonia offers the most complete picture of where the Baltic region may be heading. Total deposits at Estonian banks reached €33.5 billion at end-2025, up 5% (or €1.5 billion) year-on-year. The average balance in a private resident's current account stood at €3,530; the average deposit was €8,251.

Yet alongside these deposit figures, retail investment assets have grown substantially. Second- and third-pillar pension fund assets reached €7.95 billion in 2025. Alternative investment funds held €2.8 billion. Securities held via Estonian banks and investment firms totalled a further €5.5 billion, and assets under portfolio management reached €555 million. More structurally telling: financial assets — equities, funds, bonds and similar instruments — grew from approximately 10% to 20% of Estonian household wealth between 2013 and 2024. In a decade, their share doubled.

Lithuania: €30.6 billion in deposits, growing at 19% 

In Lithuania, household deposits reached €30.6 billion in April 2026, a year-on-year increase of 18.9%, according to data from the Bank of Lithuania. The average interest rate on newly placed term deposits stood at just 1.79% in April 2025.

Against this backdrop of deposits, investment participation has been rising. Data from Lietuvos Bankas show that the total value of financial instruments held by individual investors — including equities, bonds and funds — reached approximately €3.3 billion in 2024, representing a small but growing share of the country's total household deposits and is trending upward.

Latvia: €12.2 billion in household deposits, growing at 8.6%

In Latvia, household deposits reached €12.2 billion in February 2026, up 8.6% year-on-year, according to Latvijas Banka. Available term deposit rates sit at around 2%: roughly in line with State Treasury savings bonds, which offer approximately 2.3% for a 12-month term, leaving little financial incentive to commit even to a one-year fixed deposit.

"What is striking is not just how much money Baltic households hold in deposits, but what it is earning — around 2%, which doesn’t even cover inflation. People are not choosing deposits because they have run the numbers, but rather because deposits feel familiar and the alternative feels complicated. Ultimately this is a confidence gap, not a money gap. And confidence can be built." said Martins Sulte, CEO and Co-Founder of Mintos.

The direction of travel

The Baltics are not an outlier: across Europe, households keep the majority of their savings in deposits — not because it makes financial sense at current rates, but because it is the default. Low rates have narrowed the logic for staying, but they have not yet broken the habit. Mintos's own platform data, published in May 2026, showed Baltic investors outperforming their European peers in portfolio diversification and activity growth, with Baltic investment volumes growing at more than twice the European Economic Area average.

Sources

Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos Bankas): Household deposit data, April 2026; household financial assets and liabilities by instrument, 2024. 

Statistics Estonia / Eesti Pank: Total bank deposits and private resident deposit data, end-2025; pension fund assets, alternative fund assets and securities custody data, 2025; household financial asset share of total wealth, 2013–2024.

Latvijas Banka: Household deposit data, February 2026 (€12.2bn, +8.6% YoY). Term deposit rates ~2%; State Treasury 12-month bond yield ~2.3%. Combined credit-to-GDP ratio end-2025: 31.9% of GDP (+3pp YoY, one of the fastest increases in the eurozone). Source: Latvijas Banka economist Matīss Mirošnikovs, reported LSM.lv March 2026.

European Central Bank (ECB): Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) — harmonised comparative data covering Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the euro area on household deposits, financial assets and investment participation.