Ukio Worry?

[jkato]

I'm not in the know about banking or banks, but is Lithuania and Russia adverse to the banking turmoil that's taking place?

 

The ramifications for us would be unthinkable if Ukio went belly-up.

 

Does anyone know if the Bank of Lithuania would bail them out?

[JamboSean]

I'm not in the know about banking or banks, but is Lithuania and Russia adverse to the banking turmoil that's taking place?

 

The ramifications for us would be unthinkable if Ukio went belly-up.

 

Does anyone know if the Bank of Lithuania would bail them out?

 

Scarily enough, I was thinking the exact same.

[Ivan Drago]

Scarily enough, I was thinking the exact same.

 

scarily enough, i had this thought at work today as well

[chester copperpot]

scarily enough, i had this thought at work today as well

 

 

 

Big massive cash cow, called HMFC. They're safe.

[davieholt]

No idea.

 

But Russia certainly isn't insulated from the banking crisis. Its stockmarket took a hammering much worse than the FTSE today.

 

I very much doubt that Ukio had much direct exposure to any of the US failures. More likely that the market response was to the fact that banks lending between themselves were charging over 6% for dollars compared with 3% the previous day. This would be a major worry if a bank depends heavily on 'interbank' money for its lending plans.

[gazmcduff]

Can't comment on Ukio specifically, but Russian markets are in as much of a mess as ours!!

 

I believe trading was suspended in Russia for today for at least an hour after alot of turmoil.......

 

Fingers crossed tho!!!!!!

 

:Hearts Man spotrun:

[Flux]

Maybe Romanov will have a pyramid system and buy HBOS...

[Ivan Drago]

Big massive cash cow, called HMFC. They're safe.

We can just sell clum for ?50million if things get too bad...

[J.T.F.Robertson]

If this situation keeps deteriorating, Hearts could end up being the least of our worries.

[davieholt]

If this situation keeps deteriorating, Hearts could end up being the least of our worries.

 

ain't that the truth

[Jammy T]

Of course UKIO should be worried and concerned.

 

We are an AIG collapse away from systemic failure of the world's financial system.

[Rudolf's Mate]

Of course UKIO should be worried and concerned.

 

We are an AIG collapse away from systemic failure of the world's financial system.

 

Quite true. I was to young to remember the so called crash in the 80's however I am guessing that this is going to be much worse than it was back then!

[peckhamjambo]

From my experience working in the city, companies heavily relying solely on banking activities or other financial services, and without other revenue streams, may struggle in the current market conditions. Look at Lehman Brothers, AIG, HBOS to name but 3 in the headlines currently.

 

UBIG, the investment parent company which owns UKIO BANKAS is not solely reliant on this one company. If you take a look at its website: http://www.ubig.lt/#Scene_1

then you will see that its portfolio is diverse with interests in sport, real estate, financial services, mining, engineering, tourism and consulting.

 

Based on this I would say we don't have to worry too much, since all of these industry areas would need to be struggling, which would be pretty unlucky really. Although, we are Hearts, and anything is possible as we all know!!

[J.T.F.Robertson]

From my experience working in the city, companies heavily relying solely on banking activities or other financial services, and without other revenue streams, may struggle in the current market conditions. Look at Lehman Brothers, AIG, HBOS to name but 3 in the headlines currently.

 

UBIG, the investment parent company which owns UKIO BANKAS is not solely reliant on this one company. If you take a look at its website: http://www.ubig.lt/#Scene_1

then you will see that its portfolio is diverse with interests in sport, real estate, financial services, mining, engineering, tourism and consulting.

 

Based on this I would say we don't have to worry too much, since all of these industry areas would need to be struggling, which would be pretty unlucky really. Although, we are Hearts, and anything is possible as we all know!!

 

But surely, if the system itself collapses, there would be no escape, no matter the line of business? There are only so many financial institutions, governments can bail out.

Even Sir Tam must be "feeling the pinch". No man is an island and all that.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

I have no idea about Ukio's asset base and who it loans to. I would guess though that residential property, unlike the UK and US banks, doesn't form a major part of their portfolio. Indeed, they just announced an increase in profits.

 

However, a systemic failure of banking across the world could easily bring them down in the whirlwind. That said, if this happens, whether HMFC even exists or not could be the least of our worries.

[topcat]

I'm not in the know about banking or banks, but is Lithuania and Russia adverse to the banking turmoil that's taking place?

 

The ramifications for us would be unthinkable if Ukio went belly-up.

 

Does anyone know if the Bank of Lithuania would bail them out?

 

Presumably you mean immune as opposed to adverse.

 

In Russia the drying up of inward investment in the immediate aftermath of the of the governments escapade in Georgia is currently more of an issue than contagion from the credit crunch in America

 

Most of UBIGs activity that we know about is either in Lithuania or in other similar emerging former eastern block economies. Which means they'll be isolated, to an extent.

 

Though even if they aren't hit hard directly the fall in export demand from a western recession will hit these economies as well.

 

It's worth noting that the Bank is only one of the operations within UBIG so the dangers aren't quite as severe as they might otherwise be.

 

Personally, as a UK resident, I'd be more worried about the effect it has on the other 6 days of my week as opposed to Saturday Afternoons.

 

10/Sep/2008

http://www.ub.lt/ShowPage.aspx?MenuC=1568&ShowDoc=news.2008_09_10&PageLang=ENG&PageFontSize=&BackUrlName=All%20news&BackUrlHref=AllNewsHref

 

Ūkio bankas reports 8-months net profit of LTL 85.8 million

 

During eight months this year Ūkio bankas earned LTL 85.8 million net unaudited profit which exceeds the profit earned during the same period in 2007 (LTL 61.3 million) by 39.9 percent.

 

?Ūkio bankas pursues the main objective to ensure the balance between operational growth and the quality of services. To this end clients were offered financial solutions that reflect market conditions and great attention was paid to the qualification of client service officers. The growing number of clients as well as stable and efficient lending policy also added to the Bank?s success,? said Ūkio bankas Board chairwoman Edita Karpavičienė.

 

According to Ūkio bankas Board chairwoman, this year the Bank will continue investing into new services, take part in prospective business projects and build trust and loyalty of the present and potential Ūkio bankas clients.

 

Ūkio bankas provides a wide range of services both to private and business customers. The Bank has 12 branches and 44 client service units across Lithuania.

 

According to Google those figures equate to

2007 (8 months): 61.3m LTL = 14.38m GBP

2008 (8 months): 85.8m LTL = 20.12m GBP

 

Which suggests that the Credit Crunch hasn't hit Lithunia, at least not yet.

[ToadKiller Dog]

Ukios is reporting 8 month profits above what they expected but i would imagine that there access to loans from other banks will be more difficult so could effect there ability to keep growing.there is not enough info out there on them specificaly to make a judgement.

 

On a aside with HBOS i hear that there bigwigs are not happy with the scare stories that the bbc are running which could cause a panic run on them and that hbos is a sound business but could now be ripe for a take over of all things.

[Francis Albert]

Our former "owner" (as in provider of funds) HBOS looks to me more at risk than our current one.

[brownkg]

Well Santander the player in the game at the moment with very little exposure to US would be barred due to Abay & A&L so who do you think could/would bid for them?

[lost in leith]

From my experience working in the city, companies heavily relying solely on banking activities or other financial services, and without other revenue streams, may struggle in the current market conditions. Look at Lehman Brothers, AIG, HBOS to name but 3 in the headlines currently.

 

UBIG, the investment parent company which owns UKIO BANKAS is not solely reliant on this one company. If you take a look at its website: http://www.ubig.lt/#Scene_1

then you will see that its portfolio is diverse with interests in sport, real estate, financial services, mining, engineering, tourism and consulting.

 

Based on this I would say we don't have to worry too much, since all of these industry areas would need to be struggling, which would be pretty unlucky really. Although, we are Hearts, and anything is possible as we all know!!

 

I suspect UKIO Bankas will suffer some indirect pain just because they are a bank, but far less than the big Western banks because they are (probably!) too small to be involved in the recent financial madness. If anyone is interested in this stuff (I am, I know I'm sad:p) you should read Robert Peston's blogs on the BBC Business site.

 

UKIO Bankas is actually fairly irrelevant to us. What is important to us is how UBIG (the parent company) is doing. Unfortunately no-one seems to be able to be able to say how they are doing, so we need to keep our fingers crossed

[topcat]

It's also worth noting that while it has yet to join the Eurozone the Lithuanian Lita has been pegged at 3.4528 Euro for 4 years now so the decline in Sterling against the Euro has been matched by an equal decline against the Lita.

 

So

2007 (8 months): 61.3m LTL = 14.38m GBP

Would have been more like

2007 (8 months): 61.3m LTL = 12.5 GBP

At the time.

 

Sterling is now worth approximately 20% less (in Lithuania) than it was when Vlad took over.

 

Quite what this all means I'll have to think about.

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-gbp.en.html

[lost in leith]

Our former "owner" (as in provider of funds) HBOS looks to me more at risk than our current one.

 

Possibly, although there seems to be a credible theory that there is a concerted drive by desperate investors to 'short sell' HBOS in order to drive down the share price. Not that I have any sympathy for the barstewards if their treatment of my daughter is an example of their business practice

 

As I said in a previous post, no-one seems to have any firm data on UBIG's financial position.

[peckhamjambo]

I suspect UKIO Bankas will suffer some indirect pain just because they are a bank, but far less than the big Western banks because they are (probably!) too small to be involved in the recent financial madness. If anyone is interested in this stuff (I am, I know I'm sad:p) you should read Robert Peston's blogs on the BBC Business site.

 

UKIO Bankas is actually fairly irrelevant to us. What is important to us is how UBIG (the parent company) is doing. Unfortunately no-one seems to be able to be able to say how they are doing, so we need to keep our fingers crossed

 

Exactly right. Trawling t'interweb I have struggled to find any info on UBIG's success/failure thus far, even on the IMF site. And you thought you were sad??! I'm off to bed........

[WorldChampions1902]

Maybe Romanov will have a pyramid system and buy HBOS...

The way the HBOS share price has plumetted recently, this prospect becomes all the more greater as each day passes. Oh........................the irony!

[The People's Chimp]

To be honest, I think the only person we can trust on this matter is Professor of Hobonomics, Sergay, of jakeballs.net. He seems to have a completely fabricated knowledge of the inner workings of UBIG.

[lost in leith]

Exactly right. Trawling t'interweb I have struggled to find any info on UBIG's success/failure thus far, even on the IMF site. And you thought you were sad??! I'm off to bed........

 

Sweet dreams - I've done the same. We've had this debate on and off for a couple of years. Periodically someone will quote a figure of ?x for UBIG's assets, but no-one has ever managed to produce a balanced picture. What annoys me is that the Scottish press are happy to take cheap shots at the club, but none of them can be bothered to ask a financial journalist to investigate UBIG.

 

Personally I'm a lot more relaxed since the debt for equity swap, but I'd be happier if I understood the big picture

 

Anyway, it sounds like Sergey is up to his old tricks over the road, so I better have a look :)

[Coco]

Ukio Bankas - 80% of assets are from deposits - so there is some reliance on wholesale funding markets. The price of that wholesale lending has got more expensive recently.

 

Corporate loans are 76% of lending. Retail (including mortgages) 13%.

 

Capital adequacy strong at 14.3% in Q1.

 

I suspect that provisions for bad loans will improve due to the UBIG debt for equity swap upgrading the Hearts debt.

 

Ukio has involvement in a large real estate development project in Moscow.

 

All very interesting, but of course as others have said the more important issue for Hearts is UBIG. And other than turnover and asset figures I don't think there are any publicly available profit, cash flow or capital structure figures. It is possible that given the businesses UBIG are in that they are doing very nicely or that they are in financial peril.

[Deevers]

Maybe people should just look at things this way :

 

If we were still mortgaged up to the eyeballs with HBOS then we would be in trouble. I've no doubt that if the present troubles in the financial markets and with the banks continued and we had still been with them our position might well have been unsustainable. We look to be safe at this moment in time solely due to the fact that our financial matters are being dealt with elsewhere.

 

It may well be that if things do get worse for HBOS then maybe certain other clubs who hold overdrafts or mortgages with them may well feel the pinch - or worse.

[PTBCAL]

Don't know about the ins/outs of UKIO and if it will affect our re-building but I do know that Hearts had a meeting with the Architects on Monday (Pedro Lopez) and things are still going ahead for a approx Jan 09 decision from the Council.

[Munch]

Anyone got any news on how all these banks collapsing in USA, and the credit crunch is affecting UBIG?

[Seymour M Hersh]

Maybe people should just look at things this way :

 

If we were still mortgaged up to the eyeballs with HBOS then we would be in trouble. I've no doubt that if the present troubles in the financial markets and with the banks continued and we had still been with them our position might well have been unsustainable. We look to be safe at this moment in time solely due to the fact that our financial matters are being dealt with elsewhere.

 

It may well be that if things do get worse for HBOS then maybe certain other clubs who hold overdrafts or mortgages with them may well feel the pinch - or worse.

 

Not necessarily remember the old saying "if you owe the bank ?1 it's your problem, if you owe the bank ?1m it's their problem". I heard yesterday of someone who's bank went bust having his mortgage wiped clean. If a bank went bust surely the administrators would/could only try to get the best price on the pound for any debt owed. Meaning for every pound owed they might only be able to re-coup say 10p. Just one possibility i accept though.

[Deevers]

Not necessarily remember the old saying "if you owe the bank ?1 it's your problem, if you owe the bank ?1m it's their problem". I heard yesterday of someone who's bank went bust having his mortgage wiped clean. If a bank went bust surely the administrators would/could only try to get the best price on the pound for any debt owed. Meaning for every pound owed they might only be able to re-coup say 10p. Just one possibility i accept though.

 

One scenario I agree - however, I've little doubt that if we were with HBOS and they went belly up, the first thing they would be after would be the sale of Tynecastle. Maybe those at the other end of Edinburgh might want to dwell on that thought with respect to there mortgages to HBOS.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

One scenario I agree - however, I've little doubt that if we were with HBOS and they went belly up, the first thing they would be after would be the sale of Tynecastle. Maybe those at the other end of Edinburgh might want to dwell on that thought with respect to there mortgages to HBOS.

 

Well, the way things are going they might have new owners soon. HBoS shares are down another 30% this morning.

[I P Knightley]

Big massive cash cow, called HMFC. They're safe.

 

Phew!

 

I'm glad you pointed out the blatantly obvious. In all this hysteria, I was starting to get really worried.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Well, the way things are going they might have new owners soon. HBoS shares are down another 30% this morning.

 

A bit weird quoting myself but it looks like they will. A black horse ridden by a white knight it appears.

[Jambomo]

I think at the moment most businesses be it financial or not will be worried about the current situations. Even those not directly hit by these problems will probably fell it's impact in other ways. I don't think anyone will be immune although some will be hit harder than others.

[bigwull22]

yip and its not a merger Lloyds are trying to aquire HBOS, bunch of crooks.

[BRY]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7620483.stm

[flecktimus]

BBC 10 am News Russian stock exchange closed till futher notice.

[Francis Albert]

Not necessarily remember the old saying "if you owe the bank ?1 it's your problem, if you owe the bank ?1m it's their problem". I heard yesterday of someone who's bank went bust having his mortgage wiped clean. If a bank went bust surely the administrators would/could only try to get the best price on the pound for any debt owed. Meaning for every pound owed they might only be able to re-coup say 10p. Just one possibility i accept though.

 

Someone was incredibly lucky then. The administrators/receivers will try to maximise recovery and would certainly call in the mortgage/security of an asset like Tynecastle to do so. Since without Tynecastle Hearts has negative value the fact we owed HBOS money would not have saved us and certainly not Tynecastle.

[topcat]

BBC 10 am News Russian stock exchange closed till futher notice.

From the FT

Russian bourses halt trading for second day

By Catherine Belton and Charles Clover in Moscow, Rachel Morarjee in London and Reuters

 

Published: September 16 2008 15:07 | Last updated: September 17 2008 10:03

 

Russia?s two main bourses, RTS and MICEX, said on Wednesday they were suspending trade until further notice from the state?s main market regulator as shares continued to tumble one day after their steepest decline in more than a decade.

 

The dollar-denominated RTS was down 6.4 percent and the rouble denominated MICEX was down 3.1 per cent when the suspension was enforced with the two main state-controlled banks, Sberbank and VTB leading the slide

 

Earlier on Wednesday a high-level government source said the government would unveil measures aimed at stabilising the market situation in the next two to three days.

 

?Certain signs of a crisis are seen on the market but they are mostly emotional,? the source who asked not to be named told the Reuters news agency.

 

?The measures which were agreed yesterday at a meeting chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will be made public within two or three days,? he added.

 

Russian shares suffered their steepest one-day fall in more than a decade on Tuesday, losing up to 20 per cent, as a sharp slide in oil prices and difficult money market conditions triggered a rush to sell.

 

The heads of the Russian central bank, the finance ministry and the financial market regulator met on Tuesday night for an emergency discussion on ways to halt the crisis.

 

Earlier, trading had been suspended on both the Micex and RTS stock exchanges as investors ignored assurances by Russian officials and a cycle of distrust set in amid liquidity fears.

 

Margin calls forced domestic traders to liquidate positions and brokers pulled credit lines. At least one Moscow bank failed to meet payments.

 

The rouble-denominated Micex Index closed 17.75 per cent down, the sharpest one-day drop since the August 1998 financial crisis, while the dollar-denominated RTS index closed down 11.47 per cent, its lowest lvel since January 2006.

 

Interbank money market rates climbed to 11 per cent, their highest since a mini-banking crisis in summer 2004.

 

Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib investment bank: ?We?re in completely uncharted territory where the prevailing emotion is of fear and numbnes. No one knows where this could stop?.

 

Alexei Kudrin, finance minister, insisted that the financial system was not in a systemic crisis but the central bank injected a record $14.16bn in one-day funds into the money market.

 

The finance ministry also placed an additional R150bn ($5.8bn) in one-month deposits into the banking system. Konstantin Korishchenko, central bank deputy, told Russian news agencies that the bank and the finance ministry could provide a total of $117.6bn in liquidity to the banking sector.

 

But market players said banks were ceasing to lend to second and third-tier companies and brokers were pulling credit lines. KIT Finance, big Moscow investment house confirmed rumours that it had been unable to make payment on a series of short-term loans.

 

It said: ?In connection with the fact that a series of our clients did not meet their obligations to our bank, we have not met our obligations to our counterparties.

 

?We recognise our responsibility to our counter-parties and to the market and we are working intensively to resolve the situation.?

 

Andrei Sharonov, managing director of Troika Dialog, a Moscow investment bank, and a former deputy economic minister, said: ?This is a vicious circle,? said , .

 

?It is a situation of total mistrust. The liquidity crisis is being caused by a crisis of confidence in which people are frightened to borrow and frightened to lend.?

 

Shares in Russia?s biggest state-controlled banks led the slide with Sberbank, the state-controlled savings bank, closing 21.72 per cent down and VTB losing 29.26 per cent. The bank was suffered on investor fears about its securities portfolio, which makes up about 10 per cent of its assets.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

yip and its not a merger Lloyds are trying to aquire HBOS, bunch of crooks.

 

This needed to happen. The collapse in HBoS's share price could have led to a run on the bank. God help UK plc if that happened.

[Coco]

From the FT

Russian bourses halt trading for second day

By Catherine Belton and Charles Clover in Moscow, Rachel Morarjee in London and Reuters

 

Published: September 16 2008 15:07 | Last updated: September 17 2008 10:03

 

Russia?s two main bourses, RTS and MICEX, said on Wednesday they were suspending trade until further notice from the state?s main market regulator as shares continued to tumble one day after their steepest decline in more than a decade.

 

The dollar-denominated RTS was down 6.4 percent and the rouble denominated MICEX was down 3.1 per cent when the suspension was enforced with the two main state-controlled banks, Sberbank and VTB leading the slide

 

Earlier on Wednesday a high-level government source said the government would unveil measures aimed at stabilising the market situation in the next two to three days.

 

?Certain signs of a crisis are seen on the market but they are mostly emotional,? the source who asked not to be named told the Reuters news agency.

 

?The measures which were agreed yesterday at a meeting chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will be made public within two or three days,? he added.

 

Russian shares suffered their steepest one-day fall in more than a decade on Tuesday, losing up to 20 per cent, as a sharp slide in oil prices and difficult money market conditions triggered a rush to sell.

 

The heads of the Russian central bank, the finance ministry and the financial market regulator met on Tuesday night for an emergency discussion on ways to halt the crisis.

 

Earlier, trading had been suspended on both the Micex and RTS stock exchanges as investors ignored assurances by Russian officials and a cycle of distrust set in amid liquidity fears.

 

Margin calls forced domestic traders to liquidate positions and brokers pulled credit lines. At least one Moscow bank failed to meet payments.

 

The rouble-denominated Micex Index closed 17.75 per cent down, the sharpest one-day drop since the August 1998 financial crisis, while the dollar-denominated RTS index closed down 11.47 per cent, its lowest lvel since January 2006.

 

Interbank money market rates climbed to 11 per cent, their highest since a mini-banking crisis in summer 2004.

 

Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib investment bank: ?We?re in completely uncharted territory where the prevailing emotion is of fear and numbnes. No one knows where this could stop?.

 

Alexei Kudrin, finance minister, insisted that the financial system was not in a systemic crisis but the central bank injected a record $14.16bn in one-day funds into the money market.

 

The finance ministry also placed an additional R150bn ($5.8bn) in one-month deposits into the banking system. Konstantin Korishchenko, central bank deputy, told Russian news agencies that the bank and the finance ministry could provide a total of $117.6bn in liquidity to the banking sector.

 

But market players said banks were ceasing to lend to second and third-tier companies and brokers were pulling credit lines. KIT Finance, big Moscow investment house confirmed rumours that it had been unable to make payment on a series of short-term loans.

 

It said: ?In connection with the fact that a series of our clients did not meet their obligations to our bank, we have not met our obligations to our counterparties.

 

?We recognise our responsibility to our counter-parties and to the market and we are working intensively to resolve the situation.?

 

Andrei Sharonov, managing director of Troika Dialog, a Moscow investment bank, and a former deputy economic minister, said: ?This is a vicious circle,? said , .

 

?It is a situation of total mistrust. The liquidity crisis is being caused by a crisis of confidence in which people are frightened to borrow and frightened to lend.?

 

Shares in Russia?s biggest state-controlled banks led the slide with Sberbank, the state-controlled savings bank, closing 21.72 per cent down and VTB losing 29.26 per cent. The bank was suffered on investor fears about its securities portfolio, which makes up about 10 per cent of its assets.

 

I think that we are going to see fewer posts which suggest that all will be well as the holders of Hearts equity and debt are 'Eastern European' ...

[Francis Albert]

I think that we are going to see fewer posts which suggest that all will be well as the holders of Hearts equity and debt are 'Eastern European' ...

 

Fewer than zero?

[Coco]

Fewer than zero?

 

Are you suggesting that there have never been any posts (which to paraphrase) suggesting that 1) finance for the main stand will come from Eastern European sources 2) that Ukio Bankas/UBIG are not affected by the 'US subprime' issue etc 3) that UBIG's 'diversified' portfolio of businesses are not going to be affected etc etc?

[Francis Albert]

Are you suggesting that there have never been any posts (which to paraphrase) suggesting that 1) finance for the main stand will come from Eastern European sources 2) that Ukio Bankas/UBIG are not affected by the 'US subprime' issue etc 3) that UBIG's 'diversified' portfolio of businesses are not going to be affected etc etc?

 

1) no

 

2) not affected at all - yes

 

3) ditto

 

But I've never read a post that says (without paraphrasing) "all will be well".

[Deevers]

I think that we are going to see fewer posts which suggest that all will be well as the holders of Hearts equity and debt are 'Eastern European' ...

 

Well, I don't think that there will be many Eastern European banks who will have had much exposure to the American subprime market. They may be affected by this crisis - but not as much, Iwould think as the banks here and in other Wstern European countries.

[topcat]

I think that we are going to see fewer posts which suggest that all will be well as the holders of Hearts equity and debt are 'Eastern European' ...

 

Indeed although it's easy to overstate your point.

It should be remembered that "Eastern European" is not synonomous with "Russian". Lithuania hasn't been run from moscow for almost a generation it's been a member of the EU for 4 years. Even before EU membership it's economy was increasingly decoupled from Moscow.

 

At the moment Russia still accounts for the biggest single slice of Lithuanian exports but that slice is only 15%. In terms of Direct Investment Lithuania is far more at risk to shocks in the Eurozone.

 

http://www.lda.lt/en/LithuaniaTradeProfile.html

 

"Major business partners:

 

Neighbouring countries: Poland (20% of total FDI in 2007, 6% of exports and 11% of imports), Estonia (6% of FDI, 6% of exports), Latvia (13% of exports), Russia (7% of FDI, 15% of exports and 18% of imports)

 

Scandinavian countries: Denmark (13% of FDI), Sweden (11% of FDI), Finland (5% of FDI)

 

EU-27 countries represent about 65% of Lithuanian foreign trade flows and more than 80% of FDI in Lithuania "

 

That's not to say that the news from Russia is irrelevant to the economies neighbouring states just that the link isn't as strong as one might have thought.

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Well, I don't think that there will be many Eastern European banks who will have had much exposure to the American subprime market. They may be affected by this crisis - but not as much, Iwould think as the banks here and in other Wstern European countries.

 

The risk for the Russian market, particularly with their behaviour towards Georgia, is foreign money disappearing from the market as people attempt to hoard cash.

 

Coupled with the fall in oil, this may well be the case in the Russian market at the moment.

[topcat]

Fewer than zero?

 

So that's what people mean when they talk about people being "negative posters"