Latvia’s central bank, Latvijas Banka, said in a release on January 6th that its financial market supervision priorities for 2026 would be “resilience and accessibility of financial services.”
“Over the next three years, the priorities for the supervision of the financial market and its participants by Latvijas Banka will be the financial and operational resilience of financial market participants amid emerging risks and geoeconomic and regulatory shifts, as well as the accessibility and transparency of financial services and their alignment with customers’ needs. In line with the priorities, the individual supervisory focus areas of the financial market segments for 2026 have been established, and the inspection plan for 2026 has been approved,” the central bank said.
“In 2026, the scope of both on-site and off-site activities requiring the involvement of financial market participants has been significantly reduced. By implementing a risk-based approach, we focus on the key risks in each segment,” said Santa Purgaile, Deputy Governor of Latvijas Banka.
“This year, we will place particular emphasis on the accessibility and transparency of financial services, working together with the financial sector to also address issues related to the quality of customer service,” said Purgaile.
Latvijas Banka has been responsible for financial supervision since it took over the responsibilities of the former Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) in 2023.
As reported by LSM a year ago, in 2025 the central bank carried out more than 20 on-site inspections. At that time, it said its priorities for the next three years would be “operational and financial resilience, business model sustainability in a transition economy, and market conduct risk” – so not a perfect match with the priorities announced today.
In 2026, Latvijas Banka plans to conduct just 12 on-site inspections: 4 on-site inspections in the area of prudential (safe practices and prudential risk) supervision, 2 inspections in the area of investment services, 3 inspections relating to the prevention of money laundering and sanctions violations, and 3 inspections in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT).
“In addition, Latvijas Banka’s supervision experts will participate in several inspections conducted by the European Central Bank at significant credit institutions,” the central bank said.
LB’s information says there will be a total of 23 “planned activities” for 2026. In 2025 there were 52 different activites listed.
Explaining its schedule for 2026 Latvijas Banka said it would “ascertain whether credit institutions uphold consistently high credit underwriting standards, maintain the appropriate quality of the new loan portfolio, and accordingly manage risks throughout the entire credit lifecycle. Additionally, Latvijas Banka will also assess the profitability of credit institutions under evolving geoeconomic conditions.
“In 2026, Latvijas Banka will strengthen its supervision of insurers’ claims settlement practices, with particular attention paid to process transparency, justification of refusals, adherence to deadlines, and the provision of information to customers… in 2026 Latvijas Banka will conduct a review of practices for determining the value of alternative investments, assessing the methodologies used and the associated risks to enhance investor protection and market transparency,” it added.
Latvijas Banka will also “focus on the protection of customer funds, strengthening internal governance, ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), implementing the Instant Payments Regulation, and preparing market participants for the introduction of the new payment services regulations (PSD3 and PSR)” in the booming fintech sector.
“In 2026, as in previous years, a risk-based approach will be applied to the supervision of the prevention of money laundering and sanctions violations, with particular emphasis on assessing the management of sanctions circumvention risks. Additionally, Latvijas Banka plans to conduct a horizontal review in credit institutions and selected segments of non-bank financial institutions, focusing on the identification, assessment, and management of tax crime risks,” it added.
In the inspections conducted in 2025, Latvijas Banka paid special attention to familiarising financial market participants with the supervisor’s expectations, inspection findings, and good practices identified during the supervisory process. Also in 2026, Latvijas Banka will support market participants in meeting regulatory requirements, particularly given that some of the requirements are new.
The full inspection plan for 2026 is published here, giving banks and other players plenty of time to prepare their books before the central bankers arrive to inspect them.
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