Ūkio bankas explained

AB Ūkio bankas
Type:Public company
Foundation:1989
Defunct:2013
Location City:Kaunas
Location Country:Lithuania
Key People:Gintaras Ugianskis (Chairman of the Board)
Industry:Financial services
Products:Retail banking, mortgage loans, corporate banking

Ūkio Bankas was a Lithuanian commercial bank based in Kaunas. More than 50% of shares are owned by Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov who therefore is in the control of the bank.[1] It was the fifth largest and oldest private bank in Lithuania.

In October 2006, during an internet conference on the news portal Delfi.lt Vladimir Romanov announced his plans of selling his shares to the strategic investor. GE Money, a branch of General Electric, as one of the possible buyers was mentioned by Romanov.[2]

In common with other banks Ūkio Bankas suffered from the effects of credit crunch and on 26 August 2008, rating agency Standard & Poor downgraded the banks status from stable to negative.[3]

The organisation sponsored Lithuanian football club FBK Kaunas and Scottish team Hearts. Romanov was the owner of Hearts and a board member of FBK Kaunas.

Ūkio bankas has been associated with money laundering known as the ŪkioLeaks[4] or Troika Laundromat.[5] [6] [7] Reported by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) as the Russian Laundering Machine on 22 November 2011,[8] Ūkio bankas[9] used stolen Hermitage Capital Management subsidiaries[10] HSBC Guernsey Ltd, OOO Rilend, OOO Parfenion, and OOO Markhaon to finance through Bristoll, Nomirex and Tormex, Al-Shabaab's Russian weapons built by Ukraine and pro Kremlin South Sudan militants weapons transfers from Ukraine.[11] Sergei Roldugin was a client during this money laundering scheme.[12] [13]

Arnis Lagzdins was the compliance official at Ukio Bankas during the money laundering and had previously held the same position at Parex Bank in Latvia when very large sums were money laundered allegedly through Parex Bank and its sister firm Overseas Services by Vladimir Putin, Yuri Chaika, and the Russian Mafia including the Tambovskaya Organized Crime Group which looted various governments according to Spanish prosecutors.[12] [14] [15] [16]

In February 2013, the bank was revealed to have poor asset quality, weak risk management and lack of proper operating data. The check also revealed that the bank has ignored the central bank's recommendation to reduce operating risks. On 12 February, the Bank of Lithuania in accordance with Art. 76 of the Law on Banks of the Republic of Lithuania (the “Law on Banks”) announced a partial and temporal restriction on activities (the “Moratorium”) of AB Ūkio bankas.[17] Ukio was removed from the Lithuanian stock exchange later that month,[18] with many of its assets and liabilities transferred to Šiaulių bankas.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shareholder listing.
  2. http://www.lhv.lt/news/index.cfm?id=924844 LHV, 15 October 2006
  3. Web site: Collier. Mike. S&P downgrades Ukio. 28 August 2018. . 7 October 2008.
  4. News: Ūkio bankas – milijardinės pinigų plovimo sistemos centre . Ūkio bankas is at the center of the billion-dollar money laundering system . . Černiauskas . Šarūnas . 4 March 2019 . 23 November 2019 . lt.
  5. Web site: België, het doorgeefluik voor 10 miljard euro van 'witwasbank' Ukio Bankas. Belgium, the channel for 10 billion euros from 'money laundering bank' Ukio Bankas. Kristof. Clerix. 4 March 2019. 7 March 2019. www.knack.be. nl.
  6. Web site: Bijna een miljard euro stroomde vanuit Litouwen naar Nederland. Troika laundromat. Nearly a billion euros flowed from Lithuania to the Netherlands. Kleinnijenhuis. Jan. Kuijpers. Karlijn. Trouw. 4 March 2019. 7 March 2019. nl.
  7. News: Nikbakhsh . Michael . Die Akte Erich Rebasso: Protokoll einer unglaublichen Affäre. Der 2012 ermordete Wiener Rechtsanwalt Erich Rebasso wusch in großem Stil Geld für russische Klienten. Über ein Konto der Wiener Raiffeisenbank transferierte er rund 100 Millionen Euro aus organisierter Kriminalität. . The Erich Rebasso files: minutes of an unbelievable affair. The Viennese lawyer Erich Rebasso, murdered in 2012, laundered money on a large scale for Russian clients. He transferred around 100 million euros from organized crime through an account with the Vienna Raiffeisenbank. . de . profil (profil.at) . 26 October 2021.
  8. News: Russian Laundry Machine . . 22 November 2011 . 11 January 2020 . en.
  9. News: Ukios Bankas money laundering image . . 22 November 2011 . 11 January 2020 . en.
  10. Web site: Re: Money Laundering Suspicion Report/Accounts at Credit Suisse(Zurich) . . Micklethwaite . Neil . 28 January 2011 . 11 January 2020 . en.
  11. News: Rhetoric or Restraint . Small Arms Survey . Switzerland . 61–3 . 2009 . 11 January 2020.
  12. News: Meyer . Henry . Eglitis . Aaron . Reznik . Irina . The Face of Latvia's Scandal-Ridden Financial System Is Caught in a Corruption Case . . 25 September 2018 . 16 September 2022 . 8 September 2022 . https://archive.today/20220908000000/https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/the-face-of-latvia-s-scandal-ridden-financial-system-is-caught-in-a-corruption-case-1.1142412.
  13. News: Christmas, John; and The Shift Team . Two countries, two murders that deserve answers . The Shift News . 6 August 2020 . 16 September 2022 . 16 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220916195936/http://theshiftnews.com/2020/08/06/two-countries-two-murders-that-deserve-answers/.
  14. News: Cyprus and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Bank of Cyprus is the dominant retail bank in Cyprus. However it also has a second role, as a bank for offshore Russian deposits. Therefore it is interesting to look at the ownership of this important international bank. Bank of Cyprus maintains representative offices in Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia. The reason why Cyprus is popular with Russian depositors is the 10% corporate tax rate in Cyprus and the tax treaty between Russia and Cyprus preventing double taxation. Plus, of course, the weather is warmer and salaries are higher in Cyprus compared with Russia and thousands of Russians reside in Cyprus. . eububble . 1 February 2021 . 16 September 2022 . 15 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220115024557/http://eububble.eu/cyprus-and-the-european-bank-for-reconstruction-and-development.
  15. News: The Shift News Team . Two countries, two murders that deserve answers . The Shift News . 6 August 2020 . 16 September 2022 . 8 September 2022 . https://archive.today/20220908000000/https://theshiftnews.com/2020/08/06/two-countries-two-murders-that-deserve-answers/.
  16. News: Jemberga . Sanita . Purina . Evita . US pressures Latvia to clean up its non-resident banks . . 10 February 2016 . 16 September 2022.
  17. https://www.lb.lt/lt/naujienos/laikinai-apribota-ukio-banko-veikla-paskirtas-banko-laikinasis-administratorius Laikinai apribota Ūkio banko veikla, paskirtas banko laikinasis administratorius, 12 February 2013
  18. Web site: Ukio Bankas removed from NASDAQ OMX shares list. 26 February 2013. The Baltic Course. 26 February 2013.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ūkio bankas".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.