The National Bank of Moldova ordered appointing a special administrator for managing Banca de Economii until a new administration board is named. The measure follows the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision to transfer back Banca de Economii under state ownership, with a majority holding of 56.13% of the bank’s registered capital. During the special administration, the rights and obligations of the shareholders, the management committee, the acting president and the administrator of the bank will be suspended and will be fulfilled by the special administrator named by the National Bank, IPN reports.
The central bank’s governor Dorin Dragutanu told a news conference on December 1 that the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision concerning Banca de Economii became known in the evening of November 27, but wasn’t made public so as not to allow some of the election runners to use it for electoral purposes. Details over this case will be presented after this decision is published.
“In order to avoid unwanted interpretations, I want to explain what special administration in this case means. The most important thing is that Banca de Economii belongs again to the state and the Government, together with the National Bank, will make everything possible to ensure the bank’s stability. Until the appointment of a new board of Banca de Economii, in which the state will have a majority holding, the special administrator, under the direct supervision of the central bank, will ensure the good functioning and the integrity of the bank’s assets, will reduce its costs and will make sure that the depositors’ money is safe,” stated the governor.
The National Bank of Moldova ordered initiating inspections to examine the bank’s activity during the past year, since the state holding was diminished. Depending on the result, a decision will be taken whether to inform the law enforcement bodies to continue the investigations or not.
“We want to see how this bank was managed. We are obliged to do it. The central bank also decided to institute special administration at Banca Sociala too, given its direct and close relations with Banca de Economii. It is a preventative measure as we know that there were large reciprocal interbank deposits and loans between the two and want to see how these were provided and used,” said Dorin Dragutanu.
Last September, the state-owned shareholding in Banca de Economii fell from 56.13% to 33.38% following the last additional share issue for which the state didn’t subscribe.
