Scandal-Hit Baltic Bank Shut by ECB as Watchdog Vows Cleanup
- Latvian lender Trasta not considered systemically important
- Local regulators cite `serious and sustained' breaches
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A Latvian lender linked to a string of money-laundering probes was closed by the European Central Bank.
Trasta Komercbanka AS, the Baltic nation’s 13th-biggest lender by assets, had its license revoked after local regulators slapped restrictions on it in January. Latvia’s Financial and Capital Market Commission, which doesn’t deem the bank systemically important, said the move followed “serious and sustained breaches of regulatory requirements in several areas for a long period.” It’s the first time money laundering is among the reasons for the ECB revoking a license.