OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2014. The Head of Nordea Bank AB Estonia, Andreas Laane, was chosen as the new Chairman of the Board of the Banking Association, taking over from the Head of Swedbank Priit Perens, who managed the Banking Association for two years.

When handing over the management of the Banking Association to Andreas Laane, Priit Perens said: “Banking has had to learn to operate in an increasingly complicated regulatory and economic environment in recent years. This has created different types of challenges for the Banking Association, which has tried to be a good partner for the state in adopting and transposing local legislation and EU directives, by offering up solutions regarding how to organise things in order to provide Estonian people quality banking services. One of the biggest recent joint projects has definitely been the transition to the SEPA payment system, where the Banking Association developed a suitable solution which corresponds to European rules without making the service more cumbersome for the Estonian consumer. Andreas Laane is an experienced banker, who has witnessed two banking crises – his knowledge and skills will definitely serve a purpose as the Chairman of the Banking Association. I wish him a lot of success in managing the Association.“

According to the new Chairman of the Banking Association, Andreas Laane, the Banking Association will continue to represent the interests of its member banks in developing legislation, coordinating cooperation by developing payment systems, preventing money laundering and safety. “I highly appreciate Priit Perens` work as the Chairman of the Banking Association. Over the next two years, our priorities will continue to be the efficient implementation of the changes to the payment environment, also supporting the legal environment (e.g. pay day loan regulation). The pace of recent changes to regulations has been a challenge for banks, and has required constant investments in order to correspond to requirements. We are planning to focus on responsible business and financial education development more so than we have in the past“.

Traditionally, the Chairmen of the Board of the Banking Association change every 2 years by way of rotation. Andreas Laane will be heading the Board until 2016.
The 12 member banks of the Banking Association are represented on the Board as follows: Andreas Laane from Nordea Bank, Priit Perens from Swedbank, Riho Unt from SEB Bank, Aivar Rehe from Danske Bank, Valmar Moritz from Eesti Krediidipank, Sofia Kirsimaa from Citadele Bank, Valeri Haritonov from Tallinna Aripank, Meelis Paakspuu from DNB Pank, Erki Kilu from LHV Pank, Kaido Saar from BIGBANK, Arja Jurmu from Pohjola Bank and Riho Rasmann from Versobank.

The primary objectives of the Association are to develop Estonian banking and coordinate activities necessary for solving banks` common issues. The Estonian Banking Association (EBA) was founded in 1992 by 21 commercial banks. 11 credit institutions out of a total of 17 with an activity license belong to EBU. As at the end of 2013, the members represent approximately 99% of the Estonian banking sector based on the volume of loans. EBA is a full member of the European Banking Federation (FBE) from 2004.