The path in the top three of the largest banks of Latvia
In 1995, there were changes made to the bank's shareholding structure: Ernests Bernis and Oļegs Fiļs (also Oleg Fil), became the bank's shareholders and executives. Also in 1995, the bank started expanding its activities and founded a branch in Riga. In the following years, the bank worked in the field of providing services to foreign customers, offering them various banking products, mainly related to funds transferring service.
In 2002 the AB.LV trademark was created.
In 2004, the bank focused on developing a second line of its primary activities — investment management. Two subsidiary companies were founded: ABLV Asset Management, IPAS, dealing with investment management, and ABLV Capital Markets, IBAS, which provided brokerage services.
In 2008, the bank adopted a new strategy, emphasizing development of bespoke financial solutions for customers. Since 2009, the bank offered a third line of services — advisory on asset protection and structuring.
In 2011 the bank's name was changed to ABLV Bank.[7] The new brand and name was intended for increasing association with the chosen lines of business, strengthening the bank's reputation internationally, meanwhile retaining links to the former brand.
In 2012, ABLV Bank Luxembourg subsidiaries received a license for banking activities in Luxembourg.[8]
In 2013, ABLV Bank celebrated its 20th anniversary, and a representative office was opened in Cyprus. Euromoney magazine recognized ABLV Bank as the best bank of Latvia.[9]
The group continued to grow and by 2021, ABLV Group consisted of several companies — ABLV Bank, ABLV Bank Luxembourg, ABLV Asset Management, ABLV Capital Markets, ABLV Corporate Services, ABLV Consulting Services, and Pillar Holding Company. Financial indicators as at 31 December 2012:
In 2014, ABLV Bank started to be directly supervised by the European Central Bank in liaison with the National Regulator – the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC, FKTK) within the framework of European Banking Supervision.
In 2015 ABLV group opened a representative office in Hong Kong.
2016, an exporter support organization - The Red Jackets - recognized the bank as one of the best Latvian exporter brands. In terms of assets and turnover, the Bank entered the top three in Latvia after Swedbank and SEB. ABLV Bank bonds were quoted on the list of securities exchange Nasdaq Riga.
In 2016, the United States Department of Justice alleged that Gulnara Karimova fraudulently received $800 million and some of it had been through ABLV Bank and Parex Bank for companies linked to her by three telecommunications operators in Uzbekistan.[10]
In 2017, Sally Painter of Blue Star Strategies and who had previously worked at Parex Bank allegedly intermediated a secret payment from Latvia to Anders Aslund, who was on the Atlantic Council, for him to write an article which stated that ABLV Bank had not been involved in money laundering.[11][12][13] Previously in 2011, Dombrovskis and Aslund were authors of a book which praised Dombrovskis role at ABLV Bank and falsely denounced Sweden for the collapse of ABLV Bank.[11][15]
- Net profit of ABLV Group amounted to EUR 23,4 million.
- Total amount of deposits with ABLV Bank equaled EUR 2.66 billion.
- Amount of ABLV Bank assets totaled EUR 3.04 billion.
Bank liquidation
Since 2018, ABLV is in voluntary liquidation.[17][5]
On February 13, 2018, the FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the US Department of Treasury) published a message with a variety of accusations against ABLV — from suspicions of complicity in money laundering and avoiding currency controls to assisting North Korea in implementation of its nuclear program.[18] Despite the fact that the "accused" had the right to reasonably respond to this message within 60 days, which was done in April 2018 by FinCEN. On February 24, 2018, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that ABLV will be liquidated in accordance with the laws of Latvia.
The Latvian authorities chose not to capitalize the bank, and Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola and Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis were quick to declare that the liquidation of the bank would not harm the economy;[7] at the same time, the Luxembourg Commercial Court rejected the request of the Luxembourg regulator to liquidate ABLV Bank Luxembourg.
