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Latvia · EU member

Bank of Latvia

Latvijas Banka · Central bankProlific

92Activity Indexmethodology →

Employees

539

· employees · whole institution

FY2025

Annual budget

€34.7m

· net operating expenses · whole institution

FY2025

Supervised entities

257

· financial market participants (Annual Report 2025)

FY2025

Overview

Latvijas Banka is Latvia's central bank and, since absorbing the FCMC in 2023, its integrated financial supervisor — and it is openly building Latvia into a licensing destination. In December 2025 it issued the country's first two MiCA crypto-asset service provider licences (BlockBen and Nexdesk) out of eight fintech licences granted that year, with 15 companies in licensing and 29 in pre-licensing consultation by spring 2026. A February 2026 MONEYVAL report rated Latvia's AML system highly, reinforcing the pitch to international applicants. Everything below is Latvijas Banka's own data, from its FY2025 annual report.

Regulated sectors

BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsInvestment firmsCrypto-asset service providersInsurance companies

Leadership

  • Mārtiņš KazāksGovernor · since 2019

Full board →

Figures as published by Bank of Latvia for FY2025. Source: Latvijas Banka Annual Report 2025 (Cut-off 8 May 2026). Data as of 31 December 2025. Supplementary: CASP licensing page.

Organisation (FY2025)

ItemValue
Employees
539
Headcount, end-2025 (531 end-2024); whole institution — includes monetary policy and cash; not supervision capacity
Total recognised gains / to state budget
€332m / €56m
€19m dividends + €21m interest on gov't deposits + €16m taxes
Net operating expenses
€34.7m
FY2025 (€27.9m in 2024) — bank's net operating expenses, not a supervision budget

Supervised entities (FY2025)

ItemValue
Credit institutions
10 + 4
10 Latvian credit institutions + 4 branches of EU credit institutions
Cooperative credit unions
21
4 licences revoked in 2025 (voluntary wind-downs)
SREP outcomes
9 credit institutions
Scores: 4 medium-low risk, 5 medium-high, 0 low, 0 high

Licensing 2025

ItemValue
Fintech licences issued
8
+ 7 more by May 2026
CASP licences (MiCA)
2
BlockBen SIA (3 Dec 2025) · Nexdesk SIA (10 Dec 2025) — Latvia's first; Paybis Europe followed May 2026 with a dual CASP + PI licence
EMI licences issued
3
GR8 PAY · AP OPERATIONS · Pace FS; 1 registration cancelled (RĪGAS KARTE)
Crowdfunding licences issued
3
Ascend Finance · CSP Growth Solution · FLOW
Insurance
1 new insurer licensed (Sincera)
4 insurance-broker registrations annulled
AIFM registrations
6 new
2 cancelled at firms' own initiative
Licensing pipeline
15 in licensing · 29 in pre-licensing
As of May 2026

Notable 2025

ItemValue
First MiCA CASP licences
Two issued within one week of each other in December 2025 — with applicant interest from Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Canada and the UK.
Positive MONEYVAL assessment
Published February 2026 — actively cited by the regulator as a licensing draw.
EKS opened to PIs/EMIs
Opened Latvia's own payment system to direct participation by payment and e-money institutions: 25 connections, including 9 foreign, by end-2025.
New specialised-credit-institution regime
Created a new institution type — specialised credit institutions with €1m initial capital (vs €5m standard) — in force January 2026.
Mortgage refinancing wave
The refinancing reform Latvijas Banka designed moved 18% of Latvia's mortgage book in a single year: 11,505 loans, €840m; lifetime savings €53.5m.
O-SII framework simplified
Identified O-SIIs cut from five to three.

Key legislation

  • Law on Latvijas Banka (in force 2023)

    Founding statute; merged the FCMC into the central bank

  • Credit Institution Law

    Banking authorisation (CRD/CRR)

  • Law on Payment Services and Electronic Money

    PSD2 / EMD transposition

  • MiCA implementation (Latvia)

    CASP authorisation and supervision

Public registers

Application portals

Recent publications

Data as of 31 December 2025 · Source: datnes.latvijasbanka.lv + ComplyBridge researchActivity Index methodology →

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