Latvian ABLV Bank: recent news
A number of days ago, all transfer procedures regarding clients’ payments and bank activities of ABLV Bank in Latvia were frozen by the ECB. ABLV Bank is the third largest bank in Latvia and it also has an office in Luxembourg and a subsidiary in the USA. In addition, before freezing of the main activity of Latvian ABLV Bank, the U.S. Treasury Department suspend the ability of ABLV Bank in Latvia to conduct any operations in US dollars. The main reason for this was the money laundering in several countries, especially in Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, as well asallowing the clients of Latvian ABLV Bank to conduct business with North Korea.
After the blocking of the possibility of Latvian ABLV Bank to make any transactions in US dollars, over 600 million of EUR were withdrawn from ABLV Bank in Latvia.
It is be worth mentioning that during the last months, the banks in Latvia were investigated for the purpose of finding out any improper business practices. Furthermore, last year 2 lenders were found allowing clients to evade international sanctions that do not permit conducting any payments to North Korea.
Disregarding the above-mentioned, the head of the national central bank in Latvia was arrested by the anti-corruption agency and was freed under the pledge. The Corruption Prevention Bureau in Latvia raided the home and the office of Mr Ilmars Rimsevics, but no details were revealed to the public. In addition, by the suggestions of the media in Latvia, Mr Rimsevics is not connected to Latvian ABLV Bank.
Representatives of ABLV Bank in Latvia opposed the accusations and claimed that they are unfounded and misleading. At this moment, Latvian ABLV Bank has a loan in the amount of 97 million EUR in exchange for its securities from the national central bank of Latvia. Latvian ABLV Bank needs this money for taking stabilization steps.
In such regard, the value of a professional legal assistance is extremely high. Our team of qualified lawyers can always help and consult you on all the relevant legal matters that can arise while opening a bank account, conducting bank transfer operations and using various other bank services in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, please contact our English speaking lawyers at info@gencs.eu.
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