Banka Baltija 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 ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

which in the early 1990s was one of the largest banks in the country. It was founded in 1993, but closed down due to

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in June 1995.

History

Banka Baltija, associated with the father and son Emīls Lavents (born 1923,

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

) and (born August 9, 1959,

Anapa Anapa (, , ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. As of the 2021 Russian census, it had a population of 81,863. It is one of the largest ...

) respectively, was founded in 1993 and experienced very rapid growth. It became the largest bank in Latvian by offering high interest rates to savers and attracted many clients. Its assets rose from US$25 million from 1993, to 242 million dollars in 1994, reaching 500 million in 1995. The bank's capital rose from 1 million in 1993, 20 million in 1994 to 44 million in 1995. The bank employed several Chekists and had links to the “Pārdaugava” organized crime network. The

Group of 24 The Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, or The Group of 24 (G-24) was established in 1971 as a chapter of the Group of 77 in order to help coordinate the positions of developing countries on ...

loan to Latvia, which later became a landmark case of government mismanagement, passed through Banka Baltija. Banka Baltija had 37 branches and 49 settlement groups all over Latvia employing 1300 people. In April 1995, when a financial crisis started, Banka Baltija had 283 million dollars in deposits and had given credits of 283 dollars.

Bankruptcy

On June 27, 1995, following the a bank crisis, The

Supreme Court of Latvia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia () or the Senate of Latvia (''Latvijas Senāts'') is the highest level court in the three-tiered court system of Latvia. It deals with criminal, civil and administrative matters. Its oversight is determi ...

( lv) found Banka Baltija insolvent. In 2007 bank's chairman Aleksandrs Lavents and president Tālis Freimanis were sentenced to imprisonment and Alvis Līdums who was accused of very large scale embezzlement was acquitted. On March 3, 2018 Banka Baltija was excluded from the Registry of Enterprises of Latvia. "Invest-Riga", an auditing firm, liquidated the bank and completed this on March 22, 2018.

References

{{Authority control Banks of Latvia Banks disestablished in 1995 Latvian companies established in 1993 Banks established in 1993 1995 disestablishments in Latvia Defunct banks of Latvia

History

Bankruptcy

See also

References