AS PrivatBank (former Paritate Banka)[1] is a credit institution registered in Latvia as joint stock company and received its banking license on 31 July 1992.[2][3]
History
editIn 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.[4]
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.[1] It had one branch in Italy and 13 branches in Latvia, including branches at Riga, Valmiera, Ventspils, Daugavpils, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Ludza, Cēsis, Valka and Jēkabpils.[1][5] 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 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.[5][6] With a 9.23% stake in AS PrivatBank, Igor Mazepa through his Concorde Bermuda Ltd.[7] The Cypriot Andreas Sofocleous is an individual investor in AS PrivatBank with a large stake.[7]
In June 2016, AS PrivatBank was the 11th largest bank in Latvia.[8] On 9 August 2016, the Bank of Italy closed down the Italian branch of AS PrivatBank due to irregularities with the money-laundering regulations.[9]
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.[10]
On 15 December 2016, PrivatBank in Ukraine was nationalized, while the government of Ukraine held a 46.54% stake in AS PrivatBank.[7][8] 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.[11][12][13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c "AS "PrivatBank" to Boost Development of SMEs in Latvia". GlobeNewswire. 23 August 2007. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "PrivatBank". ecbs.org. 30 December 2016. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Annual Report and Consolidated Annual Report for year 2016" (PDF). AS PrivatBank website. August 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Останній банк Коломойського в Європі. PrivatBank Latvia втратив банківську ліцензію. Які секрети він приховує? — Forbes.ua". forbes.ua (in Ukrainian). 2022-11-25. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
- ^ a b "Bank of Italy to close AS PrivatBank branch over money-laundering breaches". Reuters. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ ""ПРИВАТБАНК" Про банк » Правління та корпоративна структура » Структура власності" ["PrivatBank" About the bank » Board and corporate structure » Ownership structure]. PrivatBank website (in Ukrainian). 11 November 2014. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ a b c "ПРИВАТная пирамида Игоря Мазепы" [PRIVAT pyramid of Igor Mazepa]. Капітал (Capital) (in Russian). 20 December 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ a b "Ukrainas valdība nacionalizējusi "PrivatBank"" [Ukrainian government has nationalized «PrivatBank»]. LSM.LV (in Latvian). Reuters. 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Bank of Italy to close AS PrivatBank branch over money-laundering breaches". Reuters. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Отчётность финансовой деятельности за III квартал 2016 года" [Financial Statements for the Third Quarter 2016] (PDF). AS PrivatBank website (in Russian). 31 December 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ Ivanova, Polina; Polityuk, Pavel (18 April 2019). "Ukraine tycoon crows 'I won' after PrivatBank nationalization ruled..." Reuters. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Ukraine court says PrivatBank nationalisation violated the law". Reuters. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ Seddon, Max; Olearchyk, Roman; Hall, Ben (17 July 2019). "The Bank that holds the key to Ukraine's future: A bank once owned by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky is set to be a defining issue for the new president". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "PrivatBank Latvia hit with yet another fine for anti-money laundering failures". eng.Lsm.lv. 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
- ^ "Finance watchdog okays PrivatBank's asset transfer to Industra Bank". eng.Lsm.lv. 2022-08-10. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
