AS PrivatBank (former Paritate Banka)
is a credit institution registered in
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
as joint stock company and received its banking license on 31 July 1992.
History
In 1992 AS "Paritate Banka" was officially registered in the registry of enterprises of the Republic of Latvia and obtained a license to carry out banking operations.
In 1993 it obtained a license to conduct foreign exchange operations.
In 1997 it obtained a Europay license. The bank becomes a full member of SWIFT.
In 1998 the bank started issuing MasterCard and Maestro payment cards.
In 2000 it obtained a Visa International license and began issuing Visa and Visa Electron cards.
A change of shareholders took place in 2001, the largest bank in Ukraine, JSC "PrivatBank", became the main shareholder of AS "Paritate Banka".
In 2002 bank was to the PrivatMoney urgent money transfer system, changed corporate style and carried out the modernization of the Internet bank (Paritate Online) was carried out.
In 2007 the bank's name was changed to AS "PrivatBank". The authorized capital was increased by 7,100,000 LVL, and its total amount became 10,650,000 LVL. Prior to 16 August 2007, the bank was known as ''AS Banka Paritāte''.
It had one branch in Italy and 13 branches in Latvia, including branches at
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
,
Valmiera,
Ventspils,
Daugavpils
Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...
,
Liepāja,
Rēzekne,
Ludza,
Cēsis
Cēsis (), (german: Wenden, liv, Venden, et, Võnnu, pl, Kieś) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Vidzeme Upland, Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja, Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges ...
,
Valka
Valka (; german: Walk) is a town and municipality in northern Latvia, on the border with Estonia along both banks of the river Pedele.
Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border but using the slogan "O ...
and
Jēkabpils.
The largest shareholder of ''AS PrivatBank'' is the Ukrainian
CB PrivatBank with a 46% stake, of which the founders of PrivatBank,
Ihor Kolomoyskyi and
Gennadiy Bogolyubov
Gennadiy (Zvi Hirsch) Bogolyubov (born 1961/1962) is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman based in the United Kingdom. He controls Privat Group, along with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Oleksiy Martynov.
Early life
Gennadiy Bogolyubov is a native of Dnipro ...
held a 49.154% stake and a 49.027% stake, respectively in JSC CB PrivatBank, which, in 2016, was the largest bank in Ukraine holding 20% of the market.
With a 9.23% stake in AS PrivatBank, Igor Mazepa through his
Concorde Bermuda Ltd. The
Cypriot
Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus.
* Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes:
**Armenian Cypriots
**Greek Cypriots
**Maronite Cypriots
**Turkish C ...
Andreas Sofocleous
Andгeas Sofocleous ( el, Ανδρέας Σοφοκλέους; born 1967 in Pelendri, Cyprus) is the founder and the managing partner of the law firm of Andreas Sofocleous & Со. Не graduated from Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship Universi ...
is an individual investor in AS PrivatBank with a large stake.
In June 2016, ''AS PrivatBank'' was the 11th largest bank in Latvia.
On 9 August 2016, the
Bank of Italy closed down the Italian branch of ''AS PrivatBank'' due to irregularities with the
money-laundering regulations.
In December 2016, the shareholders of ''AS PrivatBank'' were JSC CB ''PrivatBank'' (Ukraine) with a 46.54% stake, ''Unimain Holdings Limited'' (Cyprus) 5.29% stake, ''Wadless Holdings Limited'' (Cyprus) 5.67% stake,
''Concorde Bermuda Limited'' (Bermuda) 9.23%, ''Chastely Investments Limited'' (Cyprus) 2.71%, ''Danig Limited'' (Bermuda) 3.47%, and individual investors with a 27.09% stake.
On 15 December 2016,
PrivatBank in Ukraine was nationalized, while the
government of Ukraine
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ( uk, Кабінет Міністрів України, translit=Kabinet Ministriv Ukrainy; shortened to CabMin), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine ( uk, Уряд України, ''Uriad Ukrai ...
held a 46.54% stake in AS PrivatBank.
After the 18 April 2019 Ukrainian court ruling that PrivatBank was illegally nationalized, Kolomoyskyi stated that he didn't want to control the bank but demanded $2 billion that he lost because of the
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
.
By 2020, the Latvian branch of PrivatBank eventually closed most of its customer branches, with only 9 branches remaining, 4 of them in Riga, and employing 187 people. Ultimately, although not dissolving, the bank transferred most of its assets to local
Industra Bank in July 2022, which was approved by the national finance regulator, the Finance and Capital Market Commission (FKTK), on 10 August 2022.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Banks of Latvia
Companies based in Riga
Banks established in 1992
Latvian companies established in 1992