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Weekly Lists
April 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 28
bne:Banker
Binbank to be merged with Financial Corporation Otkritie before yearend
Ex-chairman of collapsed Tajik bank under arrest
Binbank (aka B&N Bank) will be merged with Financial Corporation Otkritie before the end of this year, the head of the regional network of Otkritie, Alexander Pakhomov, said in an interview with RIA Novosti on April 24.
"We have already started the network of regional branches of Otkritie and Binbank, which will legally be merged with Otkritie on January 1, 2019," he explained in comments cited by Vedomosti. The plan to merge the banks was first floated in February.
Also in the second half of the year, the regional offices of Trust Bank will be added to the merged bank, Pakhomov added. At the same time, a “bad bank” of non-core assets will be created on the basis of Trust Bank.
An ex-chairman of collapsed Tajik bank Tojprombank, Jamshed Ziyoyev, is under arrest on suspicion of illegally granting loans and misspending bank funds, Asia-Plus news agency reported on April 25, citing anonymous sources.
Tojprombank is among several Tajik lenders that have been hurt by irresponsible lending practices, including the handing out of loans to well-connected individuals and business associates.
The bank, after being declared insolvent in February 2017, has been un- dergoing a liquidation process and administering payouts to depositors.
Tajik banks were hit hard by the country’s economic problems in 2015-2016.
Slovenia asked the European Commission to mediate in a dispute with Croatia over foreign currency deposits on April 23, Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported sourcing the Government Communi- cation Office (UKOM). The case concerns deposits formerly held by Croatian clients at the now defunct Slovenian Ljubljanska Bank (LB) bank in Croatia before the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The ongoing lawsuit over the deposits resulted in the Slovenian government failing to get the price it wanted in the planned IPO of Nova Ljubljanska Bank (NLB), the successor to LB, last year. The government therefore failed to privatise the country’s largest lend- er, even though it was required by the European Commission to do so by end-2017.
Slovenia requests EC mediation in foreign currency deposits dispute with Croatia