Manager appointed for the Latvian branch of financial technology company “SME Finance”

This spring, Lithuanian-owned financial technology company “SME Finance” announced the expansion of its management team in the Baltic States. The management of the company’s Latvian branch has been entrusted to Jānis Diedišķis, who has more than 15 years of experience in the banking sector.

J. Diedišķis worked at SEB Bank for the past five years, holding a senior position and providing financing services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Before that, he worked for five years at SIA “UniCredit Leasing” and five years at “Swedbank”, where he was responsible for developing leasing products for most of his career. 

“I am pleased to join the “SME Finance” team and the entire FinTech community. After fifteen years of intensive work at various banks, the time has come to make a decisive move and take on new challenges in Latvia’s rapidly developing financial technology sector. Together with “SME Finance”, we have set ambitious goals and will strive to achieve every one of them, as we can already offer our customers a sufficiently broad range of financial services. We will strive not only to be competitive, but also to become the best partners for companies that want to grow,” says the new head of “SME Finance’s” Latvian branch.

According to “SME Finance” Chief Executive Officer Mindaugas Mikalajūnas, appointing a manager in Latvia is a highly significant decision for the company’s continued progress. At the same time, J. Diedišķis’s experience gained in the banking sector will enable the company to strengthen its position in the Latvian market even further and ensure a higher quality of service for customers.

“We are proud to have entrusted management in Latvia to a specialist with many years of experience in the financial sector. For some time now, we have been closely monitoring this country’s market and new business financing needs, and have found that Latvian businesses are increasingly looking for opportunities to obtain financing on the alternative financing market. This development has created many new challenges for us, but I have no doubt that Jānis’s extensive expertise will enable us to overcome these challenges successfully,” says M. Mikalajūnas with confidence.

“SME Finance”, which began operations in 2016, currently offers companies factoring, leasing services, business loans, business loans secured by real estate, as well as small loans of up to 15 thousand euros. At present, only leasing services are not provided in Latvia. At the beginning of the summer, all these financial solutions will also be provided by the neobank founded by “SME Finance”, which will offer competitive service prices, a fast service delivery process and simple administration.

“SME Finance” is the leader in alternative financing in the Baltic States, having currently provided more than EUR 570 million in financing and managing a financial portfolio worth EUR 69 million. The company has concluded cooperation agreements with international credit risk insurers such as “Coface” and “Euler Hermes”.