Bulgaria

Bulgarian MPs voted on March 7 to overturn President Roumen Radev’s veto on the bill of amendments to the Bank Insolvency Act, The Sofia Globe reported. The motion carried with 129 MPs in favour, 40 opposed and no abstentions. Radev vetoed the bill on February 21, arguing that some of the provisions had retroactive effect, which breached the principle of the rule of law. “The president supports the efforts of the National Assembly for greater efficiency in defending the public interest in bank insolvency, but that must be achieved using constitutional means.

The European Commission recommended on Wednesday that Bulgaria take action to address several areas of macroeconomic imbalances in 2016 and 2017, the Sofia News Agency reported. The proposal is part of the Commission’s 2016 country-specific recommendations which set out its economic policy guidance for the EU Member States for the next 12 to 18 months. More specifically, the Commission recommended that Bulgaria achieve an annual fiscal adjustment of 0.5% of GDP towards the medium-term budgetary objective in 2016 and in 2017.

Bank Insolvency Act amendments aimed at allowing easier access of creditors to information related to the insolvency proceedings passed second reading in Parliament on Wednesday, the Sofia News Agency reported. Under the newly adopted provisions, the list of creditors who have submitted claims against a bank undergoing insolvency proceedings will be published in the Business Register. The amendments to the Bank Insolvency Act were backed by 91 MPs, with no votes against and two abstentions.

A Bulgarian court of appeals ruled on Friday that the initial date of insolvency for Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) was June 20 last year, increasing the chances of the bank's receivers to recover more of its assets, Reuters reported. The central bank closed Corpbank's operations and took control over the Balkan country's fourth-largest lender on June 20, 2014 after a bank run triggered the biggest banking crisis in the country since the 1990s. A court declared Corpbank bankrupt in April, setting the date of its insolvency at Nov. 6, when the central bank revoked the bank's licence.

Bulgaria’s central bank governor resigned on Tuesday, as the poorest country in the European Union slowly recovers from a banking crisis and remains vulnerable to developments in neighboring Greece, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ivan Iskrov, who spent 12 years at the helm of the Bulgarian National Bank, said in a letter to Parliament that he will step down on July 10, three months before his term expires in October. Mr. Iskrov has been under pressure from political forces to resign in the wake of what turned out to be the worst banking crisis since the 1990s.

Bulgaria's Deposit Insurance Fund has chosen forensic advisory firm AlixPartners to help trace and recover the assets of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), it said on Friday, Reuters reported. The collapse of Corpbank after a run on deposits last June triggered the biggest banking crisis in the Balkan country since the 1990s. A Bulgarian court declared the bank insolvent and opened bankruptcy proceedings after an international audit showed major failings in the way the country's fourth largest lender was run that prompted a writedown of two-thirds of its assets.

Bulgarian prosecutors have launched an investigation into two central bank officials suspected of deliberate mismanagement as they took over the running of insolvent lender Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) in November, Reuters reported. The investigation is the latest in a string that opened in the aftermath of Corpbank's collapse last June, which also include probes into the activities of top central bank officials, the bank's main shareholder and its auditors. Corpbank was felled by a run on deposits in circumstances that have never been fully explained.

Bromak EOOD, the majority owner of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB or Corpbank) and its executive officers are appealing last week's court ruling which declared the bank insolvent, Novinite.com reported. This was revealed by Menko Menkov, a lawyer for Bromak which is owned by Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vasilev. On April 22 the Sofia City Court announced KTB, which had been under conservatorship by the central bank BNB since a run on its deposits in June of last year, was deemed insolvent as of November 6, 2014. This date is when the license of Corpbank was revoked.

The Bulgarian central bank said it will challenge a court decision setting the date of insolvency of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) which could be important to recovering assets, Reuters reported. Corpbank collapsed in June, after a bank run triggering the biggest banking crisis in the Bulgaria since the 1990s. An independent audit of its books showed serious failings in the way it was run that prompted central bank administrators at the lender to write off two thirds of its assets. The Balkan country is preparing to collect the bank's assets and pay back its creditors.

Sofia City Court held a hearing in the insolvency case against Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) on April 15 and was expected to issue a ruling “within seven days”, reports in Bulgarian media quoting court officials said. The three-hour hearing was not open to the public, after CCB interim receivers and the state deposit guarantee fund objected to the motion. Presiding judge Ivo Dachev was expected to issue a ruling at the start of next week, specialist judiciary news website Legalworld.bg reported.