Luminor Bank AS (“Luminor” or “the Company”), one of the leading banks in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, today announces that Erkki Raasuke, Chief Executive, has decided to leave the group ahead of the next stage of Luminor’s evolution. Luminor is appointing Peter Bosek as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2021. Erkki will continue to lead the Company in the interim and will leave at the end of the year following a suitable handover process.
Luminor was formed by merging the Baltic operations of Nordea and DNB to create a new independent bank in 2017. Erkki joined the preparation project and led the cross-border merger and restructuring of the of Luminor banking group along with a significant investment in the bank by a Blackstone-led consortium. Under his leadership, Luminor also issued the region’s first covered bonds, a major contribution to developing the Baltic financial markets.
Peter Bosek joins from Erste Group, the Austrian-headquartered financial services group, where he was CEO of Erste Bank and Chief Retail Officer of Erste Group. Erste Group’s c. 47,000 employees serve over 16.1 million clients from more than 2,300 branches in 7 countries. Peter Bosek has been with Erste Group for the past 24 years and has served on the management board in various positions for more than 13 years. His most recent roles have seen him lead the growth of a digital banking platform highly respected across Europe.
Peter Bosek’s arrival at Luminor comes at a pivotal point for the business as it enters the third stage of its transformation, building upon the foundations established by the team led by Erkki.
Luminor is the third-largest provider of financial services in the Baltics, with some 900 000 customers, 2500 employees, and a market share of 15.6% in deposits and 17.6% in lending as at the end of June 2020. Luminor has total shareholders’ equity of 1.6 billion EUR and it is capitalised with a CET1 ratio of 22.0%.
Nils Melngailis, Chairman of the Supervisory Council of Luminor Bank AS, said:
“It has been a pleasure to work with Erkki through the establishment of Luminor and the transformation of the bank. The integration process that he has led over the last three years is unprecedented in our region and Luminor is now very well positioned for further growth and development. We wish Erkki well for the future.
“I am delighted to welcome Peter Bosek to the bank. He is particularly well-suited to drive the next stage of growth in support of Luminor’s ambitions. He arrives with an impressive reputation for innovation, digitisation and motivating management teams, as well as a strong background in banking that will benefit Luminor immensely.”
Erkki Raasuke, the CEO of Luminor, added:
“It has been an honour to lead Luminor. I am proud of the achievements of our management team and colleagues over the past three years. I believe the bank has now established a strong foundation on which it can build for the future. As a result, I have decided that it is the right time for me to step down and hand the position over to someone who has the expertise needed to carry Luminor’s transformation successfully forward to the next stage of growth. I believe Peter Bosek is an excellent fit for the business and the bank will go on to achieve great things under his leadership. I thank our team and our customers for taking that journey with us.”
Peter Bosek, the CEO-appointee of Luminor, said:
“I am excited and privileged to be the next CEO of Luminor, and I appreciate the confidence that both the Supervisory Council and shareholders have placed in me. Luminor is a market-leading financial institution. By leveraging the solid foundation the business has built, I believe that we can accelerate Luminor’s position and offering while delivering best-in-class services for our customers.”
Nadim El Gabbani, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said:
“Erkki has been an outstanding Chief Executive and we thank him for his considerable achievements over the last three years. He has led the creation of a new entity in banking across the Baltic states and the strength of the business and our customer offering stand as testament to his leadership, hard work and innovative thinking.
“Peter Bosek is the perfect candidate to build upon this legacy. He will be an excellent asset to Luminor in the next stage of transformation, bringing a wealth of experience in building market-leading digital banking capabilities. We are look forward to working closely with him as he guides the business through its next phase of growth.”
Peter Bosek’s appointment is subject to customary approval by European Central Bank.
