The British Ambassador to Lithuania, Brian Olley, received European Merchant Bank’s (EMBank) founder, Dr Ozan Özerk, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ekmel Cilingir, and CEO Sarp Demiray to discuss what the needs are for British companies in Lithuania to be more active in Lithuania, how Lithuania has become the EU’s Fintech hub, how to contribute to the growth of the country’s small and medium-sized businesses in Lithuania and the role of EMBank’s business plans in these contexts. Ambassador Olley has worked in commercial banking prior to his current posting in Lithuania and has a particular focus on fintech and circular economy.
Dr Ozan Ozerk is a serial entrepreneur and a globally renowned figure in fintech. Lithuania has become a fintech hub over the past decade, and Dr Ozerk was one of the entrepreneurs who recognised the importance of the country’s positive outlook on fintech startups. Selecting Lithuania as the ideal place to start the fintech-friendly, EU-licensed bank he envisioned building, he founded EMBank in Lituania in 2018.
Dr Ozan Ozerk has successful businesses based in the UK as well, Openpayd being one of his more prominent fintech setups. Headquartered in London, Openpayd is a leader in Embedded Finance and one of the largest Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) providers in Europe.
The UK, in general and London in particular, is a leading fintech capital of the world. It’s not surprising that Lithuania is drawing interest from UK investors: The United Kingdom’s direct investment in Lithuania is estimated at EUR 2.04 billion.
