Europe is entering a new political season in the autumn which may lead to new expectations and challenges on financial markets. The conference will focus on the changing trends that are shaping the business environment for companies and investors throughout the Baltic region. The insights shared at the event are expected to help navigate and unlock the potential of financial markets in times of change.

The agenda of the conference in Vilnius includes several key topics, such as European and regional trends shaping capital markets; IPO environment in the Baltic countries; and Baltic high-yield debt market. Discussions will also focus on whether now is the right time for households to switch from real estate investments to liquid financial instruments.

“As we move into a new political cycle, the development of capital markets will be high on the EU agenda. There is a broad political consensus among the Community members that this area needs more ambitious and faster progress. Solutions need to be found at both EU and national level to improve the efficiency of financial markets to help them better cope with emerging economic and security challenges. It is vital to ensure that financial resources are efficiently channelled into the real economy where financing needs are huge. To achieve this, capital markets need to offer attractive saving instruments to residents and enable businesses to attract the necessary financing to facilitate the transition to a green and digital economy, foster business innovation, increase the productivity and competitiveness of the economy, and finance the defence industry. The Anniversary International Financial Markets Conference in Vilnius is an excellent opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved and outline priorities and directions for the new policy cycle further strengthening capital markets at EU and national level,” says Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė.

“Lietuvos bankas, in a joint effort with other institutions, aims to ensure a level playing field for companies in all the three Baltic countries, thereby strengthening the common market. The issuance of both new shares and bonds is an alternative to bank lending, a new opportunity for businesses to attract investment and a new opportunity for investors,” says Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of Lietuvos bankas.

“The Baltic countries have recently seen a clear pick-up of the capital market but most of the credit for this must go to the highly active corporate bond market whose participants are making the most of developments and opportunities in a prompt and professional manner. Other segments of the debt market are not as active and the IPO market is still dominated by just anticipation, so it could be possible to see imbalances in the development of the capital market or be concerned about the prevailing types of businesses on the same bond market. Therefore, the participants of the conference will look for solutions and share insights of practical value,” says Eivilė Čipkutė, President of the Lithuanian Banking Association.  

The conference will discuss how to foster the efficient functioning of the EU capital markets union, which is largely responsible for the competitiveness of the EU common market, economic growth and innovation development. Greater integration of capital markets, a retail investment strategy as part of the development of capital markets, and opportunities to foster investment in innovation and green and digital transformation are all key aspects of this topic.

Drawing on specific examples from the Baltic countries, the speakers and participants will look for answers to the questions of how to stimulate the development of the regional stock market and broaden the range of alternative financing options. They will look for answers to questions such as: when is the right time to think about the IPO, why both institutional and private investors are still reluctant to invest in securities, how to encourage unicorns to list on the Baltic stock exchanges, etc.

The third part of the conference will focus on the Baltic bond market trends and behaviour of retail investors. To explore this topic from different angles, the conference will discuss the return on bonds as an asset class, the risks associated with the growing bond market, and investor approaches to find out why they still do not find bonds an attractive asset class.

The panel discussion “Is now the time for households to switch from real estate to liquid financial instruments?” will focus on the changing interest rate landscape that may affect residential real estate investors. Can we expect property prices to grow at their previous pace and are the historical average returns demonstrated by property investments sustainable? How will investment habits be affected by the investment account? These questions will be discussed during the closing panel.

The international financial conference will be attended by Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Lithuania, Gintarė Skaistė, Minister of Finance of Lithuania, Claudia Maria Buch, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of Lietuvos bankas, Madis Muller, Governor of the Central Bank of Estonia, Mārtiņš Kazāks, Governor of the Central Bank of Latvia, Andre Kuusvek, CEO of Nordic Investment Bank, Arminta Saladžienė, Nasdaq Vice President for the European Market and others.  

The event will be held live on 4 October at the conference room of Radisson Blu Hotel Lietuva (Konstitucijos pr. 20, Vilnius). The language of the conference is English, no interpretation into Lithuanian will be provided.

The full programme can be found and registration is open on the conference website at www.financeconference.eu.