Latvia's Meridian Trade Bank renamed as Industra Bank

Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-23 06:09:41|Editor: huaxia

RIGA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Latvia's Meridian Trade Bank was renamed as Industra Bank on Wednesday, The bank's spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the new name reflected a change of the bank's business strategy, which is now focusing on providing financial services to small and medium-sized businesses in Latvia and other Baltic countries.

The Industra brand will be phased in gradually over this year, with the process not expected to affect the bank's customers in any way. The bank recorded its name-change in the Latvian business register on Wednesday.

"As well as the overhaul of the business model, work on strengthening the bank's first-tier capital is also nearing completion," said the bank's chairman Jurijs Adamovics.

Industra Bank was established in 1994 as Multibanka, which was later renamed as SMP Bank and most recently as Meridian Trade Bank.

In May 2018, the Latvian regulator fined the bank, then Meridian Trade Bank, with almost half a million euros for flaws discovered in the bank's internal control system and the resulting breaches of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing law.

At the end of September 2019, Industra Bank was the 12th largest bank Latvia by assets, according to information available on the Latvian banking association's website. Enditem

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