ZCZC
BCN-20
LATVIA-ECB-BANKING
Latvian PNB Banka to be shut down
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Aug 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – European authorities have said
Latvian bank PNB Banka will be shut down after determining that nothing could
prevent it from failing.
PNB Banka, the sixth largest Latvian bank with 550 million euros ($610
million) in assets, “was failing or likely to fail” according to a statement
by the European Central Bank (ECB) late Thursday.
The bank has been directly supervised by the ECB since May, and central
bank officials decided its amount of available capital had deteriorated “to
the point that the bank’s assets were less than its liabilities”.
The ECB then informed Europe’s Single Resolution Board, which in turn
determined “that resolution action is not necessary,” and PNB Banka should be
liquidated, an SRB statement said.
“The Latvian bank will be wound up under national law,” SRB added.
The SRB was created in 2016 to deal with failing eurozone banks by
spreading the cost of dismantling them across the zone’s entire banking
sector.
Several ailing eurozone banks have thus disappeared, including the sixth
biggest Spanish bank, Banco Poular, which was acquired in 2017 by rival
Santander.
In Italy, two Venetian banks, Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca,
were saved by the government at a cost of billions of euros billed to
taxpayers.
BSS/AFP/HR/1415