Handelsbanken is considering expanding its operations in Estonia by opening up to three more offices. The Swedish banking group, which opened its first office in the capital, Tallinn, in June last year, said a further office could be added in Tallinn, with Tartu and Parnu as other potential locations. Harri Tuohimaa, chief of Estonian operations at Handelsbanken, told Baltic News Services that the exact number of offices and their locations had not yet been decided. The bank is currently searching for nine new staff for its existing Tallinn office, including the chief of corporate and private banking. Mr Tuohimaa said Handelsbanken is also set to open its first office in the Latvian capital, Riga, during the first quarter of 2008. "We've got the necessary people there and right now we're dealing with licences," he said. In the second half of 2008 an office in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is to be established.