Nova Bank loses licence

The NBR has revoked the licence of Nova Bank (formerly Banca Unirea), after a period of one year and four months during which the lending institution operated under a special settlement regime, according to banking sources. Mugur Stet, NBR spokesman, stated he could neither deny, nor confirm this information. “Such decisions of NBR’s Board of Governors come into effect at the moment they are published in the Official Gazette and this is the only way the public is informed about them,” Stet explained. In March 2005, the NBR placed Nova Bank under a special settlement regime because of its low liquidity, caused by the transfer of some money abroad. Nova Bank is the former Banca Unirea, whose majority shareholder was Banca Populara Romana, which went bankrupt. In 2003, the bank was taken over by Switzerland’s Alpur, controlled by Russian investors. Nova Bank was not licensed by the NBR to attract deposits from the population. The bank last year logged losses of 13.8 million RON (3.8 million euros), double the losses posted in 2004, while its assets amounted to 29.1 million RON from 44.6 million RON in December 2004.