The first digital Lithuanian capital business bank – SME Bank – begins its operations in Lithuania. Located in Vilnius, the institution will remotely service clients from all over Lithuania and, later, from anywhere globally. In the nearest plans –free money transfers and services tailored to businesses’ needs in cooperation with SME Finance.

SME Bank was founded after identifying a lack of financing options for small and medium enterprises – limited access to financing sources and few opportunities for businesses further away from the biggest cities to receive full-fledged service. In February this year, SME Bank has acquired a license from European Central Bank.

“The talks about small and medium enterprises facing financing challenges have been going on for a while. However, according to our clients, it is just as important to increase access to capital as it is to ensure high-quality and smooth service for businesses operating in any location of the country. Thus, when founding the bank, services that would be attractive to our market were not the only thing on our minds. We spent a lot of time looking for optimum IT solutions.” – says Nemira Palaimienė, board member of SME Bank.

SME Bank will provide all banking services needed for small and medium enterprises. Currently, the focus is on the most relevant crediting services, loans, and daily banking. In the fall, SME Bank plans to begin providing leasing, and at the end of the year – factoring services. Upon starting the operations, the bank has already attracted deposits from the German market, the value of which amounts to 20 million euros. At the moment, SME Bank provides services for businesses operating in Lithuania. Shortly, the bank intends to expand to the Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as Poland. According to the plans, in three years, the bank’s portfolio will reach 100 million euros and will grow to 300 million euros in four years.

Become a client in 15 minutes without leaving the office

“The finance sector is quickly digitalizing, but the processes take time for the biggest players in the market. New and flexible fintech companies like SME Bank can create their banking platforms from scratch and utilize the newest technologies, integrating progressive risk management solutions and databases.” – says Nemira Palaimienė.

For those willing to become clients of SME Bank, 15 minutes will be enough. Loan applications are also filled online, and the client gets the decision with 24 hours. A modern online banking platform and fully automated client admissibility evaluation and onboarding systems have been created to achieve this. The onboarding model is integrated with IT systems from third countries that provide reliable information about the client.

SME ecosystem

SME Bank will provide all business banking services and will operate in the SME Finance ecosystem. The companies will operate under the cooperation contract. Upon the client’s request, the companies will exchange information and thus serve the clients in a one-stop shop principle. Such an operating model will allow offering non-standard financing services tailored to the client’s specific needs.

“The synergy of SME Finance – fintech company – and SME Bank – neobank – creates a unique business model in the Baltics. Thanks to the SME Finance platform, within 5 years, we have created an appealing infrastructure for small and medium enterprises that is used by 1200 clients, we manage funds with limits of over 200 million euros. By supplementing the ecosystem with SME Bank daily banking and financing services, we will become an even more attractive provider of financial services for small and medium enterprises – and that is our goal.” – says the CEO of SME Finance Mindaugas Mikalajūnas.

Currently, SME Finance is actively expanding in Latvia and Estonia, with plans to begin operations in Finland and Poland soon. In Lithuania, SME Finance Leasing has already started providing leasing services to private clients.