Lithuania’s largest bank has insisted it was “sleep deprived” because of its local fintech law, which suspects lawmakers that they used to steal more than $ 100 million before the collapse of Wirecard and want them to share more globally with the case.
Marius Jurgilas, a banker at the Bank of Lithuania in charge of the board, declined to comment opposition from lawmakers in Germany and Lithuania that the central bank must have done a lot to oversee the paying company UAB Finolita Unio, and decided to ban many fintechs from operating in the Baltic country.
“We did not miss this event and immediately took action. The claims of some German lawmakers are inconsistent. . . The story is very complicated at home, because of what happened in the area. In the eyes of the public, there is a total tolerance for such incidents. There can be deception in anyone who does this, “he told the Financial Times.
Following a series of embezzlement scandals in Estonia and Latvia, some Lithuanian politicians are concerned about what the country wants to be leading the European field of fintechs, attracting popular bands such as heavyweight Revolut.
Lithuania is the only EU country that uses illegal methods in EU banking: while all other developing countries insist that banks offer up to 5 million euros, the Lithuanian border is only 1mm.
Lintania’s lure of international fintech has caused a stir among European banking executives. Some of their concerns are whether the Baltic regulator is well-equipped to monitor the amount of fintech in his country.
The German payroll company Wirecard collapsed in June 2020 after revealing a € 1.9bn hole in its note. Opponents in Munich think hundreds of millions of euros were taken at the end of the recession and looking at Finolita, of Singapore, Senjo Group, one of Wirecard’s business partners and has been under investigation.
Jurgilas said German treasurer BaFin only confirmed that there were problems in June 2020 when “a red light that there is something connected with Lithuania” came in early July when Singapore police detained Senjo for investigation. The Bank of Lithuania only became aware of Singapore’s research through the media, and decided to initiate a “supervising negotiations” with Finolita.
Mu public comment published Wednesday, Lithuania’s largest bank says it has strict legal licenses and only accepts “reputable financial institutions”. The regulator also said it had rejected more than 100 refusals in 2020 alone, and removed 18 certificates in the last three years.
The central bank agreed with fintech that if it wanted to “continue working” it had to sever its ties with Senjo, and approved the transfer of the Singapore company’s voting rights in Finolita to a Lithuanian trustee. The investigation by the central bank Finolita is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
“This shows that the international currency is not working in Germany, Singapore, Lithuania. It is an international organization. We need to find a framework for how we can share global events if something has happened,” Jurgilas said.
He also said that in 2017 “who” from Wirecard went to Lithuania “wanted to apply for a special banking license”. He further added that the central bank had stated that they would pay a premium for their payments, but Wirecard did not sign a permit.
Jurgilas said the fight against money laundering was “the most important thing” for the central bank. This year, it plans to visit 70 of its 130 electronics and payment systems.
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