Eesti Pank, the central bank of the Republic of Estonia, today issued a notice to Bigbank AS regarding a violation of the reserve requirement and imposed a fine of EUR 10,430.53.
According to the notification, the average balance of the reserve account of Bigbank AS during the holding period from 01.11.2023 to 19.12.2023 was lower than the required reserve requirement. Bigbank AS agrees with the observation provided in the notification.
According to Martin Länts, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bigbank AS, the breach regarding the monitoring of the volume of reserves was due to human error.
“There was a human error in tracking the stock volume. To address this and prevent this in the future, we have implemented additional post-control measures. We also review the entire workflow for tracking reserve volume with the goal of minimizing the potential for human error. I consider it important to add that this fact has nothing to do with the bank’s liquidity – Bigbank AS has a significant liquidity reserve in Eesti Pank and meets all liquidity requirements with a margin.”
Bigbank AS is based on Estonian capital and focuses on loans and deposits for private and corporate clients. In addition to its operations in Estonia, Bigbank has branches in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria and also offers its products as a cross-border service in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.