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Lithuania, which has emerged as a new fintech hub in recent years, expected to further strengthen its position due to Brexit, attracting a large number of well-known fintech startups.
Following the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU after the 2016 referendum, but without any agreement with the community on the terms, British fintech companies have realized early on the risk that they would lose only UK licenses. it could deprive the EU of financial services.
As a result, UK companies have established their headquarters in various EU countries over the past 3.5 years, to ensure that they can provide their services in most European countries and in the event of hard Brexit.
Lithuania’s biggest victory in the fight for British fintech companies is Revolut, located here in July 2017.
Lithuania’s biggest victory in the fight for British fintech companies is Revolut.
Although Lithuania had high hopes that many other household names would follow in the footsteps of this company, they have yet to materialize.
Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo / Revolut payment card
In an interview with the Reuters news agency in February 2019, Marius Jurgilas, a member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, said that at that time alone, some 100 financial companies and startups, a quarter of which were from the Kingdom Kingdom, they applied for operating licenses.
“It just came to our notice then. We don’t have the resources to process all applications, so we have to choose by prioritizing companies with lower risk,” M. Jurgilas said at the time. Most companies sought licenses from institutions. of electronic money.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Marius Jurgilas
However, taking into account the result obtained in three years, there is not a significant influx of British companies; According to Invest in Lithuania, since 2017, 17 British fintech companies have arrived in Lithuania for Brexit, the vast majority of which have fewer than ten employees in Lithuania.
Lithuanian bank 15 minutes confirmed that the license for payment institutions and electronic money had been issued during that period to 17 companies whose shareholders are based in the United Kingdom, but that the license of one of them had been revoked following a change in business plans. It is true that the Bank of Lithuania states that the list of its fintech companies is slightly different from the companies featured in Invest in Lithuania.
Most only employ a few employees
Lithuania received the highest number of UK fintech companies in 2017 – six, including the famous Revolut, which is based in multiple countries.
In 2018, two British fintech companies registered in Lithuania, in 2019, five, and in 2020, two.
Seventeen foreign investors in three years may not seem so small, but most of these companies are very small. So far, Lithuania has benefited the most from Revolut, which has registered three related companies with 166 employees and an average salary of almost 3,000. on paper.
In addition, it is a famous international name, which makes the Lithuanian name the center of attention of foreign media.
Based on the number of employees, two more companies make a more significant contribution to the country’s economy. Second in terms of the number of jobs created is Tribe Payments, which was also established in Lithuania in 2017 and employed 68 employees. This company also pays high salaries: the average is about 4 thousand. euros.
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