Top European bank welcomes election of new supervisory board at Moldovan commercial bank

Chisinau, 23 October /MOLDPRES/ - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) welcomed the election of a new supervisory board at Victoriabank commercial bank, which is the third largest bank in Moldova, with EBRD holding 15.06 per cent of its shares.

The seven members of the board were elected during an extraordinary general meeting today. Attending the meeting were the representatives of the shareholders, who own 92.33 per cent of the bank’s shares entitled to vote.  

“The election of a new supervisory board is a major first step towards restoring corporate governance at this systemically important Moldovan bank. It will help prevent potential abuse and pave the way for a thorough financial assessment, “ the EBRD Director for Financial Institutions in Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Western Balkans, Henry Russell said.

The powers of Victoriabank’s supervisory board were suspended by a controversial court ruling in September 2014. As a result, this created a situation in which shareholders, including the EBRD, had no influence over the bank’s corporate governance.

Among the board’s newly elected members are two experienced bankers recommended by the EBRD, as well as former members of the bank’s supervisory board, including its former head.

The EBRD, the leading institutional investor in Moldova, invested in Victoriabank in August 1995, alongside the bank’s founders, to support a locally owned, commercially disciplined private bank with high standards of corporate governance and integrity. “This goal has been frustrated since June 2006, when the control of Victoriabank’s supervisory board passed to non-transparent shareholders,” the EBRD states.

The new members of the supervisory board will start their activity after being approved by the National Bank of Moldova.

A press release issued by Victoriabank says that the shareholders present at the meeting “gave their unanimous vote for the early termination of the powers of the current board members,” whereas the new ones “were elected by cumulative voting during the extraordinary general meeting”.   

The EBRD in last August asked for calling an extraordinary general meeting of Victoriabank’s shareholders to elect a new supervisory board and re-establish the corporate governance. “The shareholders of Victoriabank, including the EBRD, are entitled to play an active role in the bank’s corporate governance. It is unacceptable for such an important bank in Moldova to operate without a supervisory board, given the challenges the banking sector is currently facing,” Russell said back then.

The National Bank of Moldova set up a three-month-length special surveillance over Victoriabank in June 2015, while the media says the term was prolonged in last September.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)