Lithuanian Bank to Decide on Snoras Restructuring on Nov. 24

AB Bankas Snoras’s state-apointed administrator will release its final report on the alternatives for the bank’s restructuring on Nov. 23, the central bank said.

The Lietuvos Bankas, based in the capital, Vilnius, will give its resolution on the Snoras’s future operations on Nov. 24., it said after a board meeting late yesterday.

The government took over Snoras on Nov. 16 after the central bank discovered that about 300 million euros ($405 million) of assets may be missing and the lender was at risk of insolvency. Some securities reported as assets by the bank don’t exist, the regulator said. The country’s Prosecutor General opened an investigation into possible fraud and embezzlement.

Lawmakers approved legislation on Nov. 17 allowing the government to split Snoras into two banks, with good and bad assets. The bad bank is planned to file for protection from creditors, while the government will seek an investor for the good bank with healthy assets and insured deposits “as soon as possible,” the Finance Ministry said on Nov. 18.

No public money will be required to save Snoras because the bank has sufficient assets to cover insured deposits, the ministry said. Uninsured liabilities such as bonds will receive “a substantial haircut,” it added. Insured liabilities account for 1.4 billion euros, compared with a total of 2.36 billion euros in assets at the end of September, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at mseputyte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net