One of Lithuania's largest banks has come under nominal control of a little-known Russian financial institution, leaving industry insiders to wonder whether there is any potential synergy between the two. On 21 March Snoras Bankas' chairman resigned after the Moscow-based Konversbank acquired the holding company that owns a controlling stake in the Lithuanian bank.
This follows an earlier report that the Snoras group posted an audited profit of 10.5m litas in 2002, 13 per cent above its estimate. The group was reported to be planning expansion of its presence this year by setting up a subsidiary to deal with industrial factoring and leasing.
