The Bank of Lithuania has been selected as the winner of the prestigious Central Banking award for its innovative approach in the fintech field.
“The Bank of Lithuania is constantly looking for new ways to promote competition in the financial market, as well as explores the latest innovations and implements the acquired knowledge in practice. The central bank has been shaping global discussions on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), searching for effective RegTech solutions, and setting a global example in using the blockchain technology for both regulatory purposes and in the field of digital numismatics. We are very honoured to receive the Central Banking award – this gives us additional motivation to continue our work in this particular field,” said Marius Jurgilas, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania. He noted that the Bank of Lithuania would also take an active role in discussions on the digital euro and share its experience gained in other projects.
At the Central Banking FinTech & RegTech Global Awards 2020, the Bank of Lithuania was granted the Global Impact Award that aims to celebrate central banks or other financial supervisors for showing true innovation and development across the entire fintech and/or RegTech sector. The Bank of Lithuania showed excellence in terms of the number of implemented innovation projects and the value added created thereby.
This is the second award received by the Bank of Lithuania for its innovative approach – the central bank was also selected as the winner of Central Banking’s first Catalyst Award in 2018. Moreover, that same year, the Bank of Lithuania took the Central Banking award in the category of Website of the Year.
The key Bank of Lithuania’s initiatives for promoting competition and advanced fintech innovations:
• The Newcomer Programme launched in 2016 is a one-stop shop consultation programme intended for financial market participants interested in business opportunities in Lithuania. It has already attracted 500 companies from 60 countries.
• The regulatory sandbox allows companies to develop innovative financial products and test their business solutions in a live environment under the guidance and supervision of the Bank of Lithuania.
• LBChain is the world’s first-of-its kind blockchain sandbox that combines regulatory and technological infrastructures as well as helps start-ups transfer their ideas into the market in a faster and more cost-efficient way.
• The RegTech solution allows financial market participants to streamline reporting procedures, thus reducing their administrative burden.
• The Bank of Lithuania’s payment system CENTROlink provides technical access for payment service providers licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA), including electronic money and payment institutions, to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Once members of the system, institutions can provide not only standard credit transfers and direct debit services, but also make instant payments 24/7/365.
• On 23 July 2020, the Bank of Lithuania issued the world’s first digital collector coin – LBCOIN. The coin is dedicated to the 16 February 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania and its 20 signatories.
• The Bank of Lithuania has been actively participating in discussions on CBDCs, published a discussion paper “CBDC: in a whirlpool of discussion”, which reviewed the concept and typology of CBDC, initiatives launched by various global central banks, and potential monetary policy and financial stability implications.
