LHV Bank launches London branch to serve UK fintech industry

Estonian banking and financial services company LHV Bank is to open a branch in London to service the UK’s financial technology industry.

The bank will use the branch to engage with London fintechs and provide services for financial intermediaries.  

Approval

The launch of LHV Bank’s UK branch comes after the bank received approval from the UK’s financial regulator. The bank will be using the new branch to provide financial intermediaries with payment services, including real-time payments in euros and pounds and overdraft facilities.

The bank, which was founded in 1999 and started out as an investment firm, now has more than 135,000 customers and is known for using technology such as blockchain in its banking services.

In addition to servicing the UK’s fintech industry, the launch of LHV Bank’s new London branch will help to boost employment in the city, with the bank looking to recruit customer service specialists and people who specialise in compliance and money laundering prevention.

Important

Discussing the move in a statement, LHV Bank said that servicing financial services providers has already become an important part of the bank’s business, with the bank planning to start offering services for financial intermediaries by the end of 2018.

LHV Bank UK Branch Manager Andres Kitter commented: “We have become a partner to many new generation fintechs and serve as a link between them and existing banking infrastructure. Against the backdrop of Brexit, many banks are thinking about withdrawing from London, but we are eager to swim against the current. London is without doubt one of the most important financial centres in the world where fintech companies around Europe and the world have gathered.”