Banks, Financial Services, Latvia

The seven banks sanctions for not releasing their annual audited statements on time include Rietumu Banka, Signet Bank, BlueOrange Bank, LPB Bank, Baltic International Bank, PrivatBank and Meridian Trade Bank.

As regards PNB Banka (formerly Norvik Banka), which also missed the deadline for the annual audited financial statement for 2018, the FCMC said that this bank is under the European Central Bank’s direct supervision, which means that its noncompliance assessment will be organized differently and will take more time.

FCMC chairman Peters Putnins indicated that when assessing the situation of each individual bank the regulator took into consideration two significant factors – certain disorder in the audit market and the situation with the prevention of financial crime. Both these factors have been hampering the preparation of the statements.

Warning have been issued to Rietumu Banka and Signet Bank.

BlueOrange Bank and LPB Bank have been fined with EUR 4,260 each,and a fine of EUR 4,793 has been slapped on Baltic International Bank.

PrivatBank has been fined EUR 9,585 and Meridian Trade Bank with EUR 13,490.

According to the Credit Institutions Law, banks are required to file their annual audited

 financial statements with the FCMC within ten days after receiving the audit report and no later than April 1 of the following accounting year. The banks are also required to publish their annual statements by April 1.