The European Ombudsman released a decision on July 27 with relevance to the imposition of sanctions against a high-profile individual in Latvia, namely long-time Ventspils mayor and influential political fixer Aivars Lembergs, referred to by U.S. authorities and others as one of Latvia's top "oligarchs".
Banks
Lavia's financial regulator the Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FKTK) said July 27 it had approved FinTech company Nordigen as a payment institution "with the right to provide account information services".
The Board of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) on July 14 2020 decided to apply a fine of EUR 906,610 euros to Signet Bank for breaches of the anti-money laundering and counter terrorism and proliferation financing (AML) regulatory requirements, FKTK said in a news release July 16.
The “Luminor” bank has been informed about calls to customers for the purpose of defrauding the Internet banking access, informed Inese Kronberga, spokeswoman for Luminor, on July 3.
Sweden's financial supervisory authority, Finansinspektionen (FI), said June 25 it was fining SEB bank 1 billion krona (96 million euros) for "deficiencies in its work to combat anti-money laundering in the Baltics".
A total of 374,882,245 euros, including cash, financial instruments and real estate have been arrested in the criminal procedures into ABLV Bank investigated by the Economic Crime Control Department (ENAP) of the State Police, the LETA newswire reported June 19, citing police as the source.
In Latvia, five banks worked with losses in the first quarter of this year, including Citadele, according to data compiled by the Finance Latvia Association.
On Friday, June 5, the Bank of Latvia will release the 2 euro commemorative coin “Latgalian ceramics”, the Bank reported on June 1.
The Cabinet of Ministers on May 26 supported in principle merging the Bank of Latvia with the financial regulator, the Financial and Capital and Market Commission (FKTK), the LETA newswire reported.
The Ministry of Finance (FM) said May 21 it has submitted a proposal to the cabinet that would place Latvia's independent financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FKTK) under the wing of the Latvian Central Bank (LB).
Latvia's financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) said April 30 it is fining retail bank Citadele nearly 650,000 euros for failures in its approach to countering money laundering.
Former members of the board of defunct bank Latvijas Krājbanka (Latvian savings bank) face the prospect of having to find around 15 million euros between them as a result of failures of oversight while they were supposed to be ensuring the bank was run in a proper manner, reported Latvian Radio April 28.
Last year Swedbank once again topped the list for audited profits among Latvian banks according to bank public financial records, while four banks posted losses, according LETA news agency on April 22.
The collector coin titled "Cat's Mill" dedicated to the literary work of the Latvian poet, prose-writer and politician Kārlis Skalbe (1879–1945) has been voted Latvia's Coin of the Year 2019 in public vote, the Latvian central bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) announced April 14.
Latvia's retail banks have agreed to raise the standard limit for "contactless" transactions to 50 euros from the previous 25 euros, saying that doing so will potentially help counter the spread of coronavirus via buttons and keypads.
If you're stuck at home doing your bit for social distancing, what better way to pass the time than by weighing up the comparative aesthetic merits of a small selection of Latvian coinage?
Swedbank, the largest retail bank in the Baltic states, has published a report by law firm Clifford Chance, which the bank hired in February 2019 to conduct an investigation of Swedbank’s anti-money laundering work. Swedbank has now made the report available at www.swedbank.com.
The Latvian Central Bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) said March 13 it has joined the global Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (Network for Greening the Financial System; NGFS).
In what it said was an important milestone, on March 5, Baltic bank Luminor anounced that it had issued the first covered bonds from the Baltic region a day earlier, to the tune of 500 million euros.
The Board of the Latvian central bank, Latvijas Banka (LB), said March 2 it had approved financial statements for 2019 according to which Latvijas Banka's profit for the year totalled 27.2 million euros, a 45% increase on 2018's figure.
Half a billion non-cash payments were made in Latvia last year according to figures published by the central bank, Latvijas Banka, February 25.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (AmCham) said February 24 it welcomed the "tremendous work" done by the government and law enforcement agencies over the last yeat to keep Latvia off a list of money-laundering problem countries and to win a ratings upgrade at the same time, as previously reported by LSM.
In an important announcement February 21 it was revealed that Latvia has not been placed on an international "gray list" of high-risk money-laundering countries, which could have had a devastating effect on the banking system and national economy.
The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to withdraw the authorisation of JSC "PNB Banka" February 17, a full five months after it was proposed by Latvia's financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK).
For those who began using the Smart-ID online authentication app three years ago, this year their accounts will expire and around 60,000 people will need to update their personal information, according to the Latvian Radio broadcast “Eiro fokusā” on February 11.
Swedish bank SEB has named a new head of its Baltic banking operations.
In an unusual move February 3, Latvia's financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FCMC in English, FKTK in Latvian) said it was "recalling" a media press release it originally issued ten months earlier.
A court has ordered the detention of Andris Ovsjaņņikovs, a former ABLV Bank private banker in connection with an ongoing €50 million money laundering investigation, reports Latvian Radio.
2019 profits for Latvian monetary financial institutions (MFIs), mainly banks, were 117.1 million euros, which is 2.5 times less than in 2018, according to Latvian central bank Latvijas Banka statistics published on January 29.
Police have conducted investigations at various Latvian banks associated with the non-resident banking sector, according to unofficial information reported by Latvian Television (LTV) January 29.