Lithuania

Lithuania, which saw registration of crypto companies soar almost fivefold last year, is reining in the growth of digital-asset service providers to address transparency issues and money-laundering risks, Bloomberg News reported. The Registry Office in Vilnius released a list of 206 crypto companies Thursday that pass a set of stricter regulatory requirements imposed last November. Regulators winnowed down a list of 850 companies after imposing the new rules, according to the Finance Ministry.

In the space of just five years, a little-known company on the outskirts of London has grown into a payments-industry powerhouse, processing more than 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in transactions every month. Backed by licenses from regulators in the UK and Lithuania, Transactive Systems Ltd. touted itself as “one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Europe,” with an ability to service clients from “compliance-intense industries” including cryptocurrencies, gambling and foreign-exchange trading, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

Taiwan will set up a $1 billion credit program aimed at funding projects by Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies amid economic pressure from China over an office that the island opened in the European Union country, Lithuanian officials said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. It follows Taiwan’s announcement last week about creating a $200 million investment fund to help Lithuania amid a diplomatic row with Beijing. American and Lithuanian officials say China has blocked imports from the Baltic nation, a close U.S. ally.

Ukio Banko Investicine Grupe, or UBIG, the Lithuanian investment company that controls Scottish soccer club Heart of Midlothian, is insolvent, said the Baltic nation’s Department of Enterprise Bankruptcy Management today on its website, Bloomberg reported. The department, part of the Economy Ministry, said that Kaunas-based UBIG, at its own request, had been placed on a list of companies unable or unwilling to meet their obligations. UBIG is a sister company of Ukio Bankas AB, a lender that Lithuania’s central bank closed in February for risky lending to related parties.

A Lithuanian court began bankruptcy proceedings against Ukio Bankas AB at the request of the central bank, which shut the Kaunas-based lender in February because of risky loans to related parties, Bloomberg reported. Kaunas District Court today also issued a decree naming the firm Valnetas UAB as Ukio’s bankruptcy administrator, the court said on its website. The decisions may be appealed within 10 days, according to the statement. Ukio was Lithuania’s fourth-largest bank by deposits when it was closed.

A Lithuanian court said it would consider starting bankruptcy proceedings against Ukio Bankas AB at the request of the central bank, which shut the lender in February citing risky loans to related parties, Bloomberg reported. Kaunas District Court agreed today to consider the Bank of Lithuania’s request in a written process with a hearing on May 2, court spokeswoman Gintare Putnikiene said by phone. Ukio was Lithuania’s fourth-largest bank by deposits when it was closed.

Lithuania's Siauliu Bankas has agreed to acquire the assets and liabilities of Ukio Bankas, which was placed in administration last week, Reuters reported. The country's central bank restricted operations at Ukio and appointed an administrator after Lithuania's No.4 bank ran into financial trouble. Ukio's main shareholder - with a 65 percent stake - is Vladimir Romanov, owner of cash-strapped Scottish soccer club Hearts. "The most important task now is to resume the provision of services to the former customers of Ukio Bankas," Audrius Ziugzda, CEO of Siauliu Bankas, said in a statement.

Bankas Snoras AB, Lithuania's fifth- biggest bank by assets, is insolvent and will file for court protection from creditors to avoid a costly bailout for taxpayers, Bloomberg News reported today. The bank's financial situation is "worse than previously identified" and saving the bank "would cost significantly more and would take longer than the available liquidity" at Snoras, the central bank said in a statement. Some 3.4 billion litai ($1.3 billion) in assets are missing, Governor Vitas Vasiliauskas added. The government took over Snoras on Nov.

Lithuania’s banking regulator said hundreds of millions of dollars in assets may be missing from Bankas Snoras AB after the government took over the Baltic nation’s fifth-biggest lender on concern it may be insolvent, Bloomberg reported. More than 1 billion litai ($392 million) of assets may be unaccounted for, central bank Governor Vitas Vasiliauskas told reporters yesterday in the capital, Vilnius. Snoras’s operations were halted until Nov. 21 and a state administrator appointed after the lender ignored recommendations to reduce its credit risk, the regulator said in a statement.

As Greece resists European demands for wider austerity measures, the contrast with the Baltic states couldn't be starker, The Wall Street Journal reported. Faced with similar market worries about their fiscal positions a year ago, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia bit the bullet. Now there is light on the horizon: Standard & Poor's has lifted its rating outlook on all three to stable from negative, citing the successes achieved in fiscal consolidation. Greece should take note. All three have retained effective currency pegs rather than take the option of devaluation.