Luminor Has Opened A Direct USD Correspondent Account with Citi

15.10.2019

From October, Luminor started routing US dollar payments through Citi.

Luminor CEO Erkki Raasuke has said that one of the objectives of Luminor has been to establish an independent correspondent banking network and payment infrastructure. “I am very pleased to have Citi, one of the world’s leading USD clearing banks, as our partner in providing support to our customers for their cross-border payments.”

Citi, the third largest U.S. banking group, has become Luminor’s global counterparty in several areas. Luminor now has a direct correspondent banking relationship with Citi via a USD nostro account as well as nostro accounts in other main currencies. Luminor started to route USD payments through its new core banking platform via Citibank N.A. from the beginning of October.

Luminor plans to switch its cross-border payment flows serviced by DNB Bank ASA and Nordea Bank Abp to direct nostro accounts with new counterparty banks by the end of 2019. Customers will be informed of any changes in payment requisites. DNB and Nordea will remain as Luminor’s correspondent banks for Nordic currencies.

Luminor was established as an independent Baltic bank in autumn 2017, built on the Baltic businesses of Nordea and DNB and combining the experience and knowledge from the Nordic countries. Luminor is the third-largest provider of financial services in the Baltics, with approximately 1 million clients, 2,500 employees, and a market share of 16.4% in deposits and 20.2% in lending as of the end of the second quarter of 2019. Total shareholders’ equity amounts to €1.6 billion, and Luminor is capitalised with a CET1 ratio of 18%.