(A side remark: output growth in the Nordic countries has also been robust in the past 10 to 15 years. Swedish GDP, for example, has doubled. Such pace of development is likely to have contributed to the growth in the Baltic countries.) Coming back to the Baltics, 1997 and 1998 were the years of the Asian and Russian crises. In the Baltic states, these crises led to the collapse of the stock markets, bankruptcies of many companies, including banks, and a surge in interest rates and unemployment. Thus it was a good time to make cheap acquisitions in many industries, including Baltic banks. That said, strategic entry of Nordic banks was at the time of critical importance to restore market confidence. SEB and Swedbank acquired minority shares in two largest Estonian banks, and started to increase their control. In the year 2000, Sampo Bank followed. BIS Review 81/2006  1  Indeed, the presence of foreign banks in emerging markets has generally been found to increase stability, efficiency, and governance. Combined with improved regulation, strong Nordic banks have brought a qualitative change in the Baltic financial sector. As a result, we can proudly say that the Estonian financial system stands out in the EU for integration, e-banking, and credit conditions, to name a few. Nordic investment in Estonian banking sector has proven profitable: ROE has been around 20 percent. Furthermore, local know-how helped the Nordic parent banks to enter the Latvian and Lithuanian as well as the Russian markets.
3, A "353 9 33 3 3 93  9  4 4 6752 554     465477 752 -0  75  752 901 74:  2 1" 4 752 W 57  47   74752 552 712 2 1 714 552   $  6    4 53 ! 5  4 437 53  2 $ &7'1 74 " 1 +,,-.-/ %973  4  !23(%&  2 7 %3 5332 3279  +6*9 A6(4)9 1 f 34,4/.4( &9(04 (7/4*   0C')0)    T T T T  ? @ 5Z!412