The Central Bank of Latvia set its financial market supervision priorities for 2026–2028 and approved its 2026 inspection plan, focusing on the financial and operational resilience of supervised entities amid emerging risks and geoeconomic and regulatory shifts, as well as the accessibility and transparency of financial services and their alignment with customer needs. It also intends to reduce the administrative burden on firms in 2026 by significantly narrowing the scope of on-site and off-site activities requiring firms’ involvement, while applying a risk-based approach to concentrate on key risks and customer service quality. For 2026, the plan includes 12 on-site inspections across prudential supervision (4), investment services (2), prevention of money laundering and sanctions violations (3), and information and communication technologies (ICT) (3), alongside participation in European Central Bank inspections at significant credit institutions. By segment, inspections are planned at five credit institutions, one insurer, two payment service providers, three investment firms and one private pension fund, supplemented by off-site work including 11 thematic inspections, supervisory dialogues and surveys. Key thematic focuses include credit underwriting standards and new loan portfolio quality following strong 2025 growth in loan portfolios at less significant credit institutions, bank profitability under evolving geoeconomic conditions, insurers’ claims settlement practices (transparency, refusal justifications, deadlines and customer information), valuation practices for alternative investments, corporate governance, data quality and sustainability among issuers, and investment firm liquidity risk, capital adequacy, governance, customer protection, product suitability and cross-border operations. Fintech supervision will prioritise protection of customer funds, internal governance, compliance with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), implementation of the Instant Payments Regulation and preparation for new payment services rules (PSD3 and PSR), while ICT oversight will target governance and outsourcing management, operational resilience, business continuity and internal controls; anti-money laundering and sanctions supervision will emphasise sanctions circumvention risk management and include a horizontal review of tax crime risk management in banks and selected non-bank segments.

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