The Bank of Latvia's past may be for sale

Icelandic investment company Straumborg plans to sell Russian "daughter" - a small Norwick Bank. Wrote on Monday, April 25, the newspaper Kommersant. Norwick bank for over a year for sale, but to find a buyer for a long time not worked. Sources of Kommersant reported that buyers will be some Russian bankers. According to the publication, withdrawal of Russian bank Norwick, 100%-owned by Icelandic investment company, could become just one more example of the well-known trend - foreign players that failed to develop a crisis of Russian businesses now prefer to minimize it. However, the case Norwick Bank, Kommersant, is interesting for its prehistory. Norwick Bank until 2006 he worked under the name "Fineko" and belonged to the citizens of Latvia, of Russian origin, Andrejs Svirchenkovsu and Jurijs Shapurovsu who controlled and large enough to Latvian bank Lateko. In the early 2000's, as previously mentioned media, Lateko was implicated in a scandal related to money laundering, and faced with the claims of regulators, in particular the U.S. State Department. In 2006 Straumborg bought both Latvian and Russian banks, they were renamed, and Icelandic investors have moved 100% of shares of the bank, and in Lateko gentlemen Svirchenkovs and Shapurovs retained minority stakes. "The former principal owners of the bank retained considerable authority in both Latvian and Russian banks and after attracting investor", - told the interlocutor of Kommersant close to Norwick bank. Now gentlemen Svirchenkovs and Shapurovs sits on the board of directors Norwick bank. "In the market there are frequent cases where a company to improve the reputation of attracting a respectable nominee, but in fact the owners remain the same," - said in an interview with the publication director of the Moscow office of Tax Consulting UK Edward Savulyak. As participants of the market, business Norwick Bank and now looks rather peculiar. "Actually lending Norwick bank engaged in moderate amounts, but rather the basic momentum of the bank account for transactions in foreign currency", - said director general of the National Rating Agency Viktor Chetverikov. Thus, according to statements by Russian standards on March 1, the loan portfolio (mostly corporate) was about 1 billion rubles. (Assets - 2 bn.). However, turnover on buying and selling of currencies (90% of the total turnover on the accounts of the bank) at Norwick bank in the order of 400 billion rubles. per month. "Norwick bank, she has no branch network or a meaningful portfolio, the buyer may be interested in only a banking license and a minimum infrastructure" - considering the prospects of this asset sale Deputy CEO of Absolut Bank Eugene Retyunsky. "The cost of such a bank for sale is hardly exceeds the size of its Tier I capital," - said Viktor Chetverikov.