“As far as I know, Swedbank has expressed such interests,” Vitas Vasiliauskas, the governor of the central Bank of Lithuania, said speaking on Teisė Žinoti (Right to Know) talk show on Lithuania’s national television (LRT) on Wednesday night.
In his opinion, the temporary administrator of Ūkio Bankas will approach all commercial banks that could be willing to participate in the rescue of the bank and will choose the best option.
„Timing is crucial here. The bank is an asset if it is functioning, now it is subject to a moratorium. It cannot continue long since it is losing its value. I think that effective and prompt negotiations are a very important factor,“ Vasiliauskas said.
Meanwhile, a representative of Swedbank told BNS on Tuesday that the bank had not spoken with the central bank about cooperation in reorganizing the operations of Ūkio Bankas.
“There have been no discussions,” Saulius Abraškevičius, Swedbank spokesman, told BNS.
Meanwhile, Šiaulių Bankas, Lithuania’s seventh-biggest commercial bank that is controlled by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a group of local investors, has already opened talks on the takeover of assets and liabilities of Ūkio Bankas. To this end, the bank and Adomas Audickas, Ūkio Bankas’ temporary administrator, signed a letter of intent on Wednesday.
The EBRD stated on Wednesday that it would provide a subordinated loan for Šiaulių Bankas in order to take over good assets and insured deposits of Ūkio Bankas. The size of the loan, which has not been disclosed so far, is said to depend on the volume of the assets to be taken over.
Algirdas Butkus, board chairman of Šiaulių Bankas, told BNS that the EBRD would lend “a lot – as mush as necessary.”
According to data made available by the Lithuanian Banks Association, as of early October, the aggregate assets of Šiaulių Bankas and Ūkio Bankas totaled 6.947 billion litas (EUR 2.01b), which accounted for 9.1 percent of the market. Their combined loan portfolio made up 4.213 billion litas (7.8 pct of the market). The combined deposit book, of 5.575 billion litas, accounted for 12.6 percent of the market.
The two banks, taken together, had 313,000 customers early this year, which accounted for 8.1 percent of the market.
Keeping an eye
Swedbank comments that it does indeed keep a watch on the situation after the closure of Ūkio Bankas, but says it has not opened any talks on the takeover of its assets so far.
“We keep a watch on the situation but do not take any active measures; no talks have been opened and no specific decisions have been made,” Swedbank Lithuania CEO Antanas Danys told BNS.
