US investors buy ABLV banka’s mortgage portfolio in Latvia

Citadele Bank has completed the acquisition of the mortgage loan portfolio of ABLV Bank in liquidation in the amount of EUR 120 million, LETA was told by the bank.

The bank noted that the first part of the transaction between Citadele Bank and ABLV Bank for the acquisition of its mortgage loan portfolio has been completed – Citadele Bank’s mortgage loan portfolio has been supplemented with several thousand mortgage loan agreements in the amount of more than 120 million euros.

By the end of the year, it is planned to complete the second part of the transaction, in which the amount of mortgage loan agreements will be approximately 50 million euros.

At the end of the first part of the transaction, customers whose loans were transferred to Citadele Bank will be individually identified and informed about the new procedure for the fulfillment of existing mortgage obligations.

It has already been reported that in March this year, Citadele Bank signed a transfer agreement with ABLV Bank for the acquisition of the majority of its mortgage loan portfolio. It will cover several thousand mortgage agreements worth more than € 170 million.

In May of this year, the Council of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) allowed ABLV Bank to transfer a part of the loan portfolio to Citadele Bank. The Commission authorized the transfer of the part of the loan portfolio issued to individuals within the framework of mortgage lending or standard agreements concluded with ABLV Bank customers to Citadele Bank in accordance with the proposal of ABLV Bank liquidators submitted on 30 March 2021.

It was also reported that in order to maximally protect the interests of customers and creditors and taking into account the decision of the European Central Bank to initiate liquidation proceedings, ABLV Bank shareholders decided to self-liquidate at the extraordinary meeting on February 26, 2018. ABLV Bank to start the announced self-liquidation process. As of July 12, 2018, the European Central Bank has revoked the license issued by ABLV Bank.

ABLV Bank’s problems arose after the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced in mid-February 2018 that it planned to impose sanctions on ABLV Bank for money laundering schemes that had contributed to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, as well as illegal activities. In Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine. The report published by FinCEN also states that until 2017, the management of ABLV Bank used bribery to influence officials in Latvia, trying to prevent legal actions against it and reduce the threat to their high-risk activities.

ABLV Bank has rejected the allegations, and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has stated that it has not found any evidence of ABLV Bank’s management involvement in bribery, as FinCEN had claimed in its report.

In terms of assets, Citadele Bank is the second largest bank in Latvia. Its bonds are listed on the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange. The bank’s shareholders are the subsidiary of the US investment company Ripplewood, RA Citadele Holdings LLC and a group of international investors (75% plus one share) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (25% minus one share).

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