VILNIUS - Vilniaus Bankas, Lithuania's biggest bank by assets, has moved very close to Hansabankas in terms of housing-loan market share after posting strong growth over the first four months of the year.
At the end of April, Hansabankas, which is a part of the Hansabank Group, the largest financial group in the Baltics, held a 30.5 percent share of the Lithuanian housing-loan market, while Vilniaus Bankas, which is owned by Sweden's SEB, held 28.2 percent.
Nord/LB Lietuva was third with a 20.3 percent market share, followed by Sampo with a 13.7 percent market share.
According to data from the state-run housing loan insurer Busto Paskolu Draudimas, Hansabankas has provided 668.6 million litas' (193.8 million euros') worth of housing loans as of late April, while Vilniaus Bankas had extended 617.4 million litas.
Zilvinas Milerius, director of Vilniaus Bankas' product development department, announced at a news conference on May 26 that the bank had issued 139.3 million litas of housing loans during the first four months of 2004, a threefold increase year-on-year, boosting its portfolio to 659.3 million litas.
He said that in April alone Vilniaus Bankas extended 42.83 million litas in housing loans, the highest monthly volume recorded by a local bank in 2004.
"We expect to further consolidate our positions in the housing loan market in the first half of this year," Milerius said. He added that the bank's housing loan portfolio was forecast to exceed 800 million litas by the end of the year.
Vilniaus Bankas' total loan portfolio grew by 140.6 million litas during the first quarter of this year to reach 4.7 billion litas, giving the bank a 38.8 percent share of the domestic loan market.
