Amsterdam Trade Bank, part of Russia’s Alfa Bank, declared bankrupt

Alfa Financial institution signal is seen on a constructing in Minsk, Belarus September 7, 2017. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

AMSTERDAM, April 22 (Reuters) – Amsterdam Commerce Financial institution (ATB), a subsidiary of Russia’s Alfa Financial institution, has been declared bankrupt, the Dutch central financial institution (DNB) mentioned on Friday, citing an Amsterdam District Court docket Ruling.

An announcement on the DNB web site mentioned ATB depositors could be coated as much as 100,000 euros ($108,000) every below the Netherlands’ deposit assure system. The financial institution had round 23,000 prospects, of whom most are Dutch however 6,000 are German, the DNB mentioned.

In response to filings on the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, the financial institution’s final helpful proprietor is Mikhail Fridman, the Russian-Israeli billionaire who’s contesting Western sanctions imposed on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His stake in ATB was mentioned to be greater than 25% however not more than 50%.

Alfa Financial institution is topic to U.S. sanctions, however has not been focused by the European Union.

ATB itself had not been sanctioned, however Dutch monetary newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) reported that depositors started to panic on Thursday.

In an announcement on its web site, ATB confirmed it had requested and been granted chapter. The financial institution mentioned that U.S. and British sanctions had “precipitated operational difficulties, as the vast majority of ATB’s counterparties, together with corresponding banks … discover it troublesome to proceed supporting ATB.”

The FD newspaper had beforehand reported that ATB’s homeowners have been looking for to promote the financial institution and depositors found that different European banks have been unwilling to just accept transfers out of ATB for worry of falling foul of sanctions.

The small financial institution had beforehand been recognized for commerce financing however had sought in recent times to turn out to be a lender to small and medium dimension firms.

In response to its 2020 annual report, the latest on file on the Chamber of Commerce, ATB had belongings of round 1.2 billion euros and fairness of 174 million euros. It made a revenue of 27 million euros that yr.

($1 = 0.9270 euros)

Reporting by Toby Sterling Modifying by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter

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