Holm Bank AS, based 100% on Estonian capital, started providing services on the Latvian and Swedish markets. In Latvia, Holm offers hire-purchase services, hire-purchase cards, and consumer loans under its own brand, and on the Swedish market, the company is launching a digital credit card solution as its first service.
According to Rauno Klettenberg, Chairman of the Management Board of Holm Bank, starting operations in Latvia was a logical continuation of the transaction that took place last year, by which a majority holding in SIA Best Līzings, a Latvian hire-purchase company, was acquired. From October this year, the company will be called Holm Bank Latvia SIA.
‘Our desire is to offer Latvian consumers modern financial solutions that have been successfully launched in Estonia, based on our 25 years of experience on the domestic market. Best Līzings has been operating in Latvia for more than ten years and the Latvian team has a thorough knowledge of the specifics of the local market and customers’ expectations. Latvian consumers need financial services that are flexible and customer-friendly, but also responsible. As a new solution which offers these values, we offer Holm hire-purchase cards with an interest-free period of 15 days and no monthly fee in Latvia,’ said Klettenberg.
This autumn, Holm also started offering services in Sweden, where consumers can download the Holm App and conveniently create a digital MasterCard credit card to pay for online purchases. The innovative digital credit card uses a secure two-step 3D confirmation process (3D Secure), has no monthly fee, and the user can choose a suitable repayment schedule to pay for purchases over a longer period.
‘Sweden is a very exciting and promising market for us, where we launched with an extremely customer-friendly and innovative service that is distinguished from those offered by other service providers. Naturally, our goal is to achieve rapid growth and expand the range of our services; however, we want to get to know Swedish consumers and their habits more thoroughly first,’ explained Klettenberg.
According to Klettenberg, expanding operations to Latvia and Sweden is part of the growth strategy of Holm. ‘Last year, we signed an agreement with Raisin, Europe’s No. 1 deposit marketplace, and started offering term deposits to customers in Germany and Austria. Holm has a very good rating on the Raisin platform and the solutions we offer are trusted. This service has helped us to flexibly raise money with which we have been able to meet the rapidly growing demand for loans,’ said Klettenberg.
Holm Bank AS provides services in Estonia and Sweden under a banking licence. In Latvia, Holm Bank Latvia SIA operates as a provider of consumer credit services. Holm Bank AS is a bank based on Estonian capital. Holm is the first credit institution in Estonia to be licensed by the European Central Bank. Holm’s products include hire-purchase, small loans, and credit cards, which have been on the market under the Liisi brand for 25 years, as well as business and limit loans and deposits.