Baltic International Bank has got in touch with the law enforcement authorities of the Republic of Latvia and filed the application concerning a probable third party threat of fraud in respect of Bank and intention to bring Bank into disrepute. According to the information possessed by Bank, there is a probability that certain persons linked to criminal circles abroad attempted (possibly, jointly with certain officials from Latvia’s law enforcement authorities) to carry out unlawful financial operations, defraud Bank and, hence, ruin its reputation.
During the past month, unauthorized persons approached Bank’s responsible officers in a number of occasions with a clear intention to obtain, for a fee offered, sensitive information about Bank’s customers. Article 61 (1) of the Credit Institutions Act of the Republic of Latvia sets forth the obligation of credit institutions to guarantee the confidentiality of the customers’ personally identifiable information, accounts, deposits and transactions”. According to the information possessed by Bank, persons linked to criminal circles abroad attempted to create reputational risk to Bank and facilitate unlawful financial operations on Bank’s part.
Due to Bank’s internal control system, Bank was able to timely identify the risk the potential threat of undermining reputations of the customers, Bank itself and the country. Under these circumstances, Bank has prevented potential criminal offence that might be committed by third parties. Bank immediately reports such cases to appropriate supervisory and law enforcement authorities which in turn evaluate whether the facts constitute the criminal offence and take further action as appropriate.
After receiving information about the threat to intentionally create reputational risk to Bank, Bank has got in touch with the law enforcement authorities and requested that an independent and unbiased investigation should be conducted.
Teika Lapsa
Head of Corporate Communication
Tel.: (+371) 6 7000 444
E-mail: teika.lapsa@bib.eu