Bulgaria

A top Bulgarian court has definitively refused to consider an appeal against the revoking of the banking licence of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank or KTB), opening the way for an insolvency case against the collapsed lender to proceed. The appeal against the Bulgarian central bank's decision to withdraw the licence had been filed by KTB's majority owner Bromak EOOD. The Bulgarian Acquisition Company II, another Corpbank shareholder, and Vera Ahundova, a representative of a group of KTB depositors who suffered losses from the bank's closure, supported the appeal.

Bulgaria’s Parliament passed at second reading on March 18 the bill of amendments to the Bank Insolvency Act, which envision the appointment of a temporary bankruptcy receiver if a lender has had its licence stripped but no insolvency proceedings are ongoing, The Sofia Globe reported. The bill was prompted by the ongoing saga concerning the Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), which was Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender when it asked to be put under the supervision of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in June 2014.

Bromak, the major shareholder at Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB), is to request an international report on whether the bank's capital is a negative equity, the company's lawyers said on Monday, novinite.com reported. Comments from Menko Menkov and Tervel Georgiev followed a decision of the Sofia City Court to halt the insolvency proceedings started by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). The court cited last week's appeal lodged by Bromak, owned by Tsvetan Vasilev, against the proceedings.

Sofia City Court has said it will have to suspend insolvency proceedings against Corporate Commercial Bank, or KTB, following an appeal by majority owner Bromak, Novinite.com reported. The court said it was informed on Wednesday that Bromak had filed an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) over the central bank's decision to withdraw KTB's banking licence, BGNES reported on Thursday.

Bulgaria’s parliament Tuesday approved a revised fiscal budget for this year that allows the state to borrow several billion dollars’ worth of foreign and domestic debt via syndicated loans to prop up the country’s deposit insurance fund and fill holes in the strained budget, the finance ministry said, The Wall Street Journal reported. Lawmakers in Sofia approved total new debt of up to 4.5 billion lev ($2.88 billion), of which a maximum of 3 billion lev could come from foreign markets and the remainder from domestic lenders.

Bulgaria’s central bank on Thursday revoked the license of one of the country’s biggest lenders and moved to open bankruptcy proceedings, the International New York Times reported. The lender, Corporate Commercial Bank, also known as K.T.B., has been closed since a bank run in June, leaving businesses and consumers without access to about $4 billion in deposits. The move on Thursday halts all activities at the bank and opens the way for the payment of more than half of the deposits — about $2.3 billion, which are insured by the state under European Union law.

Bulgaria's central bank will have to revoke the licence of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) unless the Balkan country changes its laws, the central bank's spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. Under current laws, if a bank's capital is negative, the central bank should withdraw the bank's licence, shut its operations and seek its bankruptcy within five working days. "Under current legislation the Bulgarian National Bank has no other option but to revoke the bank's licence.

The European Union’s banking watchdog has warned that Bulgaria’s authorities have breached European law by continuing to block depositors’ access to their money at a large troubled lender the government seized four months ago, the International New York Times reported. The warning comes after a run on deposits forced the lender, Corporate Commercial Bank, to close in June, leaving tens of thousands of consumers and businesses without access to their cash in the European Union’s poorest member state.

The European Union’s banking watchdog said Bulgaria’s central bank and deposit insurance fund were breaching the bloc’s deposit-guarantee law by not allowing depositors to access their savings at Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The European Union's banking watchdog is investigating a possible breach of the bloc's deposit-guarantee law at Bulgaria's Corporate Commercial Bank, three months after the lender suspended client payments and the central bank put it under special supervision following a bank run, The Wall Street Journal reported.