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
6BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsInvestment firmsCrypto-asset service providersInsurance companies
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.
Leadership
1Mārtiņš KazāksGovernorsince 2019
Full board
Organisation (FY2025)
Employees539Headcount, 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€34.7mFY2025 (€27.9m in 2024) — bank's net operating expenses, not a supervision budget
Supervised entities (FY2025)
Credit institutions10 + 410 Latvian credit institutions + 4 branches of EU credit institutions
Cooperative credit unions214 licences revoked in 2025 (voluntary wind-downs)
SREP outcomes9 credit institutionsScores: 4 medium-low risk, 5 medium-high, 0 low, 0 high
Licensing 2025
Fintech licences issued8+ 7 more by May 2026
CASP licences (MiCA)2BlockBen 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 issued3GR8 PAY · AP OPERATIONS · Pace FS; 1 registration cancelled (RĪGAS KARTE)
Crowdfunding licences issued3Ascend Finance · CSP Growth Solution · FLOW
Insurance1 new insurer licensed (Sincera)4 insurance-broker registrations annulled
AIFM registrations6 new2 cancelled at firms' own initiative
Licensing pipeline15 in licensing · 29 in pre-licensingAs of May 2026
Notable 2025
First MiCA CASP licencesTwo 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 assessmentPublished February 2026 — actively cited by the regulator as a licensing draw.
EKS opened to PIs/EMIsOpened 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 regimeCreated a new institution type — specialised credit institutions with €1m initial capital (vs €5m standard) — in force January 2026.
Mortgage refinancing waveThe 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 simplifiedIdentified O-SIIs cut from five to three.
Key legislation
4Law on Latvijas Banka (in force 2023)Founding statute; merged the FCMC into the central bank
Credit Institution LawBanking authorisation (CRD/CRR)
Law on Payment Services and Electronic MoneyPSD2 / EMD transposition
MiCA implementation (Latvia)CASP authorisation and supervision
Registers, portals and publications