PNB Bank will challenge the FCMC's decision to suspend the operation in court

   As “PNB Bank” has filed an application against the Finance and Capital Markets Commission (FCMC) in the Administrative District Court of Riga, the decision taken by the bank to suspend the bank's activities, informs the bank's representatives.

 In its application, the bank points out that the FCMC's decision is not justified and disproportionate. There was no urgent need to introduce a ban on financial operations, the bank statement said.

The Bank is currently under the direct supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB), so only it can take binding supervisory decisions or execute them, or give such instructions to the FCMC. The ECB's decision, which was referred to by the FCMC in its decision, does not contain any such instructions to impose restrictions on the bank's activities.

New shareholders and the bank's board consistently stress the financial stability of the credit institution. In addition, shareholders are prepared to invest additional capital of €146 million in the bank, which was notified in good time by the regulatory authorities.

 “In taking this decision, the FCMC harmed not only the bank itself, but also tens of thousands of pensioners and residents employed by the State budget institutions, as well as city and district administrations who use banking services. What is more, this decision is a heavy blow to Latvia's reputation in the international investor community, because the new bank's shareholders are foreign citizens, including the United States and France, and our clients are doing business everywhere in the world,” the bank statement says.

 Thus, new shareholders and the bank's board reserve the right to use other remedies, which are intended at both Latvian and European level, and, inter alia, arise from investment protection agreements, including from the Government of Latvia and the Government of the United States of America agreement on investment promotion and mutual protection, the bank's representatives indicate.

 Source: www.db.lv

State Social Insurance Contribution Regists

In Latvia last year, 11 companies paid more than €3,000 in state social mandatory insurance contributions per employee on average per month

This is shown by a study by Lursoft, according to data from the State Revenue Service. It is interesting that the largest national social compulsory insurance contributions per employee were mostly paid by companies whose number of employees is counted on one hand, one to five. At the same time, there are also some kind of exceptions, such as Uralkali Trading, for which last year the number of employees is 33 and, on average, EUR 5.97 per employee has been paid monthly. More employees – 50 – are indicated by Forticom, which on average paid national social compulsory insurance contributions of EUR 2.65 thousand for each worker. Tradintek also employed 21 employees and, on average, paid national social mandatory insurance contributions of 3.07 thousand euro. It is undeniable that, until now, it is the companies that pay many millions of euros in national social compulsory insurance contributions, but those who pay substantial amounts on average per employee remain in the shadows.

The data is surprising

“This study is surprising because the amount of the salary from which the contributions were paid is significantly above the national social minimum insurance contribution (social security security) ceiling, which was EUR 55 000 in 2018,” the LDDK social and labour expert, Peter Leiskalns, does not hide the surprise. He admits - Lursoft's study data are pleasing. “First of all, it is positive that there are companies that, on average, pay €2,000 and more for each employee. This means that very solid salaries (gross EUR 5500) are officially paid and a substantial contribution is made to both the social security budget and the public budget. I would like to hope that the number of such companies will only grow annually,” says Mr Leiskalns. At the same time, he admits that the state's social minimum insurance contributions were paid by companies with a relatively small number of employees, one to two.

Source: www.db.lv