Central bank allowed to liquate commercial banks

The National Bank of Moldova will have the right to liquidate the insolvent commercial banks. The bill was adopted in first reading by the vote of the Communist parliamentary majority on June 12. The Opposition criticized harshly the bill, saying that the central bank is given exaggerated powers, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The central bank was empowered to name its representative administrator. This will help quickly solve certain problems faced by the banks, avoiding long procedures,” said Iurie Muntean, chairman of the commission for economic policy, budget and finance. Presently, the insolvent banks are liquidated by a liquidator named by the court. “This procedure is very long and difficult. Until the liquidator takes over the administration of the institution, the bank can lose a part of its assets,” Muntean said. Alexandru Oleinic, MP of the parliamentary group of Moldova Noastra Alliance, said that the introduced amendments will seriously affect the trust in banks and will allow the state to unjustly intervene in the activity of the banks. “The new procedure will better protect the depositors and other creditors of the banks,” Muntean replied. “The depositors will encounter no problems. We now guarantee 6,000 lei, but in the future we will guarantee all the money,” the Communist MP explained. According to the MP of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Democratic Party Simion Furdui, by this initiative the Communist system admits that the banking system in Moldova is close to bankruptcy. Some of the Opposition MPs recommended postponing the examinational and adoption of the bill until after the early elections. “You should not trifle with the financial-banking system. It cannot be improved in three days. We will then need many years to rehabilitate it,” said Vadim Cojocaru, MP of the faction of the Liberal Party. The AMN MP Leonid Bujor demanded that the bill be rejected because the central bank is given exaggerated powers and this runs counter to the international practices.