When it comes down to bank check redemption it's always a struggle to find a bank (at least in Europe) which offers such service. You may find my discoveries of finding a reliable bank in Republic of Georgia, when at the end I found Bank Republic.
In case of Latvia, you have few options, like SEB or Swedbank, but both of them require you to have an active bank account at their branches for at least 6 months before you can start such a simple bank operation like check redemption.
After a quick search I did find a Privatbank offers such service, for really affordable prices and really quick (if you can call it actually a quick) time. So it will cost you $35 for a check and 20 days to arrive money to your bank account, if you are not willing to pay $35, you can pay even less - $25 but then you should wait 40 working days for money to arrive at your bank account.
It took me some 20 minutes to open a new bank account at Privatbank, I did chose Branch in Liepaja and I'm very thankful to lady who serviced me - Tatyana, as I remember, if correct. She was even so kind that agreed to combine 2 separate checks into one, so I do not have to pay double bank commissions.
Thank you Privatbank for being in business!
About Privatbank
Established in 1992, AS PrivatBank is now one of the most popular banks in Latvia. The bank is a part of the PrivatBank International Banking Group, which renders services to more than 22 million individual and corporate customers in 12 countries. In TOP 1000 banks of the world PrivatBank ranks No.9 among the ten largest banks of Central and Eastern Europe.
PrivatBank is one of the most innovative banks of the world. More than ten years ago the bank was among the first ones to implement dynamic SMS passwords. Mini-terminal for payments, internet banking using a QR-code, online cash collection and dozens of mobile applications represent the latest innovations of the bank, which are widely recognized all over the world.
Learn more: www.privatbank.lv