Banks, Crisis, Financial Services, Latvia

She said that the situation has been calm at bank branches and that no lines have been forming.

Praulina said that Citadele has its staff working overtime this weekend to help pay-out guaranteed deposits to ABLV Bank clients.

As reported, payout of guaranteed deposits to customers of ABLV Bank will begin yesterday, the Latvian Finance and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) reported.

"Guaranteed deposits of up to EUR 100,000 will be paid out starting from March 3," the financial watchdog’s representatives said.

The guaranteed deposits to customers of ABLV Bank are being paid out by Citadele bank.

The FKTK also said that funds of the Latvian Deposit Guarantee Fund will not be used in this case because ABLV Bank has sufficient funds to pay out the guaranteed deposits. It has been estimated that EUR 480 mln should be paid to ABLV Bank’s customers, and the bank has already transferred this amount to the FKTK’s account.

LETA also reported, shareholders of ABLV Bank at an extraordinary meeting on Monday made a decision to start the liquidation process in order to protect interests of its clients and creditors. ABLV Bank believes that in this way it will be possible to ensure active protection of its customers, the bank said in a statement.

LETA also reported that the Latvian financial regulator, the Finance and Capital Market Commission, acting on the instructions from the European Central Bank (ECB), has ordered ABLV Bank to stop all payments as of February 19 following a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of Treasury about ABLV Bank's involvement in international money laundering schemes and corruption. On February 24, the Finance and Capital Market Commission made a decision on occurrence of unavailability of deposits at ABLV Bank.

At the end of September 2017, ABLV Bank was the third largest bank in Latvia by assets. The bank's majority shareholders Olegs Fils, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne own, directly and indirectly, 87.03% of the bank's share capital.