The Baltic Investment Group Bank (BIG) will be opening its 21st branch in Estonia this Thursday, 28 February 2008, in Paide in Järva County.

The Paide branch of BIG is situated in the new Maxima shopping centre (63-65 Pärnu Street) and offers all of the bank's loan and deposit services. It is BIG's first branch in Järva County.

Lembi Laissaar, BIG's Western Estonia Regional Manager, says that the bank decided to expand into Paide as a variety of customer research had revealed ever increasing levels of interest in both borrowing and depositing among the people of Järva County. "Up till now our clients from this area have had to travel to Rapla or Tallinn to organise their loans and deposits, but now they will be able to organise all of their finances a little closer to home," she said. "A lot of our services are available online or over the phone, but at the end of the day electronic channels will never fully replace the personal, face-to-face experience of customer service."

The Baltic Investment Group Bank (BIG) is one of the largest banks in the Baltic States. It specialises in loans for private clients and is the leader in the small loans segment of the Estonian market. BIG operates 40 branches in the region: 21 in Estonia, 15 in Latvia and four in Lithuania. The bank has approximately 500 employees. Its loan portfolio exceeded 1.9 billion kroons by the end of the third quarter of 2007. BIG's bonds are listed on the Tallinn and Stockholm stock exchanges.

For further information please contact:
Lembi Laissaar
Regional Manager, Western Estonia
Telephone: +372 735 0961
Mobile: +372 53 942 582
lembi.laissaar@big.ee