German Commerzbank AG to open Baltic representative office in Lithuania

Commerzbank AG, one of Germany’s oldest financial institutions, has announced plans to open a Representative Office in Vilnius. The new Representative will serve as the hub for the three Baltic States Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Specifically, Commerzbank will focus on trade and project finance in the region. Additionally, the deepening of the cooperation with the public sector and local financial services industry is a key priority.

Established in Hamburg in 1870 and now headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Commerzbank AG has grown to become a leading German financial institution and is now one of the largest financiers of German foreign trade. Commerzbank is the first German bank to open an office in New York (in 1971), it has since gone on to set up a global network that stretches to around 40 countries.

Its Baltic Representative Office in Vilnius will be the latest step in its mission to accompany its clients wherever they do business. Lithuania is already home to established German names such as Continental, HELLA, and Schmitz Cargobull, and German firms are the largest foreign investors in the Lithuanian Manufacturing sector.

According to Michael Kotzbauer, Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Commerzbank AG, Commerzbank’s clients will benefit from the bank’s local expertise and its strong network on the ground in Lithuania and the rest of the Baltic states.

This decision is welcomed by President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, who is also quick to emphasise the importance of the two countries’ strategic partnership:

Commerzbank will not only be assisting German companies looking to expand into the Baltics, it will also be pursuing opportunities to invest in renewable solutions – one of the company’s main strategic focus areas. Here again, Lithuania is the perfect fit, as Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation of Lithuania, observes:

Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Bank of Lithuania, sees the entrance of a new player within the Lithuanian banking sector as a strong vindication of local competence, and governance:

For Elijus Čivilis, General Manager of Invest Lithuania, the opening of this office is a further step in Lithuania’s journey to being recognized as a regional powerhouse for the financial sector: