Latvian government publishes fintech strategy

Latvia’s government has published a strategy to encourage the development of the country’s fintech sector.

The public portal on draft legislation (‘Tiesību aktu projektu publiskais portāls’) has published what is described as an ‘information report’ setting out a fintech development strategy for the Baltic nation (‘Par Latvijas finanšu tehnoloģiju sektora attīstības stratēģiju’).

‘Latvia as a whole has untapped potential for the development of the fintech sector. While the framework is business-friendly, there is a need to continue working on reducing unjustified barriers to starting a business in the financial sector,’ the report, which is signed off by finance minister Jānis Reirs, states.

‘Particular attention should be paid to technological development and application in financial services in order to promote the creation of products with high added value, thereby increasing the competitiveness of the sector,’ the report (which is in Latvian language only) notes, specifying that the ‘development and integration’ of artificial intelligence (AI), ‘Big Data’, cloud solutions and other technologies in financial services should be promoted.

The report sets out a vision (‘Vīzija’) that the country, which has a population of about 1.9 million, becomes ‘an important fintech centre at the European Union (EU) level, where fintech companies are enablers of innovation and competition in the financial sector, developing important, secure and internationally scalable business models.’

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Source: globalgovernmentfintech.com. Photo: Shutterstock.