ABLV Bank wants to enforce EUR 414.7 million from ECB and SRB

RIGA - To-be-liquidated ABLV Bank at the European Court of Justice wants to enforce EUR 414.691 million from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Single Resolution Board (SRB), according to the information published on the Official Journal of the European Union.

ABLV Bank claims that the court should declare that the ECB and SRB are jointly and severally liable for the damage caused to the applicant as a result of the discontinuation of its business and that of its Luxembourg subsidiary.

Therefore, the bank asks the court to order the defendants jointly and severally to compensate the applicant for such damage and determine that the material damage is at least EUR 414,691,000 plus default interest from the date of delivery of judgment until its payment in full. The bank also wants the defendants to bear the costs of the applicant.

As reported, the Finance and Capital Market Commission, acting on the instructions from the European Central Bank, ordered ABLV Bank to stop all payments as of February 19, 2018 following a report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury about ABLV Bank's involvement in international money laundering schemes and corruption. On February 24, 2018 the Finance and Capital Market Commission found an occurrence of unavailability of deposits at ABLV Bank.

Shareholders of ABLV Bank decided in February 2018 to start the liquidation process in order to protect interests of its clients and creditors. ABLV Bank believes that in this way it will be possible to ensure active protection of its customers, the bank said in a statement.

At the end of September 2017, ABLV Bank was the third largest bank in Latvia by assets. The bank's majority shareholders Olegs Fils, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne own, directly and indirectly, 87.03 percent of the bank's share capital.