In the light of the fact that the European Central Bank has not assigned the task to abolish certain payment limits to AB.LV bank, the Council of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) has made a decision on non-availability of deposits in order to ensure the refund of the guaranteed compensations to the customers of AB.LV bank.
The responsible entities of Latvia work closely with each other and also with our international partners, including the European Central Bank and the United States. I am convinced of both the stability of the financial sector of Latvia and the ability to take major steps to ensure that the banking sector regains its reputation.
In the recent years, Latvia has made steps in the field of supervision of the banking sector in order to prevent inflow of the funding in the financial sector that is related to money laundering and terrorist financing. However, they have not been sufficient to achieve a more substantial reduction in the share of risk customers and the involvement of the Latvian banking sector in activities non-compliant to international practices and laws. The responsible officials and experts from the financial sector at national and international level have to agree on a set of further actions to improve the financial supervision system. Therefore, an extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Financial Sector will be convened on Monday 26 February, and this issue will also be on the agenda of the sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Latvian government has not invested and will not invest a single euro in rescuing JSC AB.LV bank. The taxpayers’ money will not be channelled to this bank. Latvia is one of the countries of the Banking Union, where a harmonized framework for supervision and regulation of the banking sector has been introduced since 2014. The law does not provide for the possibility of investing the state budget funds in rescuing the banks.
Andrejs Vaivars
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mob.: 29228678
E-mail: Andrejs.Vaivars@mk.gov.lv