CREDIT INSTITUTIONS
Number and structure of credit institutions as at the end of the year

• There were 14 credit institutions operating in Estonia at the end of 2020, five of which were branches of foreign credit institutions. A year earlier there were 16 credit institutions, of which seven were branches of foreign credit institutions
• The largest share of assets at 77% of total assets continued to be held by credit institutions owned by foreign residents. This share was three percentage points lower than at the end of 2019
• The five largest credit institutions held 93.8% of total assets in 2020, which was 0.8 percentage point less than in 2019. Estonia was in second place for this behind Greece among the countries of the euro area

Number of bank offices

• Credit institutions were operating 74 offices in Estonia at the end of 2020, which was nine fewer than in 2019
• Harjumaa had the largest share of these offices with 27, while Raplamaa and Hiiumaa had only one bank office each. Hiiumaa had 1.1 offices per 10,000 residents though, for which it was second behind the 2 per 10,000 in Läänemaa, while Harjumaa had the third fewest at 0.4 per 10,000 residents
• Data from 2019 put Estonia in last place among the countries of the European Union for the number of offices per 100,000 people with only six. In 2009 there were 16 bank offices per 100,000 people in Estonia, but Estonia's position in the league table has not changed in the past decade

Accounts at credit institutions

• At the end of 2020, credit institutions had 2.28 million clients, of which 2 million were private individuals. The total number of clients rose by 53,000 over the year, with the number of private clients rising by 45,000
• Credit institutions had 568,600 private loan clients at the end of the year. A quarter of these, or 142,500 clients, had a housing loan
• In 2020, 53,300 private current accounts were closed, of which 4100 were the accounts of non-resident private individuals, and this was 161,500 fewer than in 2019. There were 18,600 current accounts of legal entities closed, of which 467 were held by non-residents. This was 34,200 fewer current accounts of legal entities than were closed than in 2019
• Applications to open a current account for legal entities were rejected on 2845 occasions, which was 553 applications fewer than in 2019

SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS

• As at the end of 2020 there were 25 savings and loan associations in Estonia, which was one more than in 2019. The total number of savings and loan associations has risen by seven over the past decade
• Savings and loan associations had 15,614 members as at the end of the year. This number has risen around fourfold over the past nine years
• Six out of ten members of savings and loan associations had either demand or term deposits at the end of the year. A little below 15% of members had taken a loan

CONSUMER CREDITORS

• There were 55 consumer creditors, including leasing companies, operating in Estonia at the end of 2020, which was one less than in 2019
• A third of consumer creditors are not classed as financial intermediaries for their core business
• There were 508,000 current consumer credit contracts as at the end of 2020, which was 32,000 fewer than a year earlier. Of these, 15% were vehicle leases and around 30% were instalment payment contracts
• The average outstanding vehicle lease at the end of December was 10,589 euros

INVESTMENT AND PENSION FUNDS

• As at the end of 2020 there were 68 investment and pension funds in Estonia, which was four more than in 2019. Three of these four were non-public funds
• There were 15,000 contracts for ownership of public investment fund units as at the end of the year, which was 3300 more than a year earlier
• There was a sharp rise over the year in the number of third pillar pension fund contracts signed, as the number of pension owners rose from 50,000 to 83,000
• The biggest fall over the past decade has been in the number of investment funds, from 33 in 2010 to 12 by the end of 2020
• As at the end of the year, 764,700 second pillar pension accounts had been opened, with 18,774 accounts added during the year
• Shares or units in non-public funds had been acquired on 350 occasions by the end of the year, which was 75 more than a year earlier

See also: Annual indicators for financial intermediaries

The annual indicators of financial intermediaries the 2021 will be released by Eesti Pank in March 2022 at the latest
See also the release calendar for statistics

Background
The statistical release contains a selection of indicators illustrating the market for financial intermediation in Estonia

The statistical release is independent of economic policy releases and is presented separately from them

Compiled by:
Terje Raudsaar

Additional information:
Tel: 668 0965
Email: [email protected]