Latvijas Krājbanka () was a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n bank listed on the Riga OMX exchange (,).

Overview

was originally founded in 1924 as the Latvian postal savings bank. Under the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

, it was integrated into the Savings Bank of the USSR. Following the regained Latvian independence, it was re-formed under the name Latvijas Krājbanka. The privatisation process of the bank was initiated in 1997 and concluded in 2003. The main shareholders were

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n based Snoras banking group and the Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. In 2009, Latvijas Krājbanka had a turnover revenue of 34.6 million

Latvian lats The Latvian lats (plural: ''lati'', plural genitive: ''latu'', second Latvian lats ISO 4217 currency code: LVL) was the currency of Latvia from 1922 until 1940 and from 1993 until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. A two-week trans ...

with a loss of 1.9 million lats. The bank had 941 employees and 155 customer service centres in Latvia. 2009 was a year of severe economic crisis in Latvia, with a sharp drop in GDP, exports and imports, and sharp declines in construction, retail, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy. In 2009, Latvijas Krājbanka's turnover was LVL 34.6 million, with a loss of LVL 1.9 million. Later that year, the bank celebrated its 85th anniversary and Ivars Priedītis took over as Chairman of the Board. In 2010, the improvement of the Latvian economy also affected the performance of the banking sector. Savings Bank continued its activities and development, including supporting important cultural events. In November 2011, the bank was taken over by the Latvian government and liquidated due to bankruptcy of Snoras. In May 2012 the bank lost its banking license. Antonov was accused of fraud and misappropriation of US$290 million. In August 2012 Antonov was sentenced to six years and another board member Ivars Priedītis to five years in prison. Assets were also seized from both Antonov and Priedītis. A total of EUR 6.1 million was not withdrawn by clients from the banks accounts before the end of the guaranteed remuneration.

References

Banks of Latvia Companies based in Riga Banks established in 1924 Banks disestablished in 2011 1924 establishments in Latvia 2011 disestablishments in Latvia Companies nationalised by the Soviet Union Postal savings system {{Europe-bank-stub

Overview

See also

References