Credit institutions are obliged to implement stringent governance measures, including requirements for the eligibility and suitability of all persons managing the credit institution.
The process for the assessment of suitability of officials is stipulated by the following legal acts:
- Credit Institution Law
- Latvijas Banka's Regulation No 343 "Regulation on the Assessment of the Suitability of Credit Institution and Investment Firm Officials" of 25 November 2024
- Latvijas Banka's Regulation No 371 "Regulation on the System for Managing Credit Institutions" of 16 December 2024
Latvijas Banka shall assess suitability of the officials of the bank specified in Section 24 paragraph one and Section 26 paragraph one of the Credit Institution Law to mentioned law requirements.
Compliance with following criteria is assessed during the process:
1) reputation
2) knowledge, skills and experience
3) ability to act in accordance with the corporate values of credit institution and standards of professional conduct and ethics, including independence of mind
4) ability to devote sufficient time to the performance of their duties
5) collective suitability
The documents to be submitted for the assessment of suitability of officials of credit institutions determined by the 2 paragraph of the Latvijas Banka's Regulation No 342 "Regulation on the Documents to Be Submitted for the Fit and Proper Assessment of Credit Institution and Investment Firm Officials" of 25 November 2024.
These regulations and law are available on Latvijas Banka website.
The assessment of officials of the significant supervised credit institutions shall be carried out by the European Central Bank (ECB) in cooperation with Latvijas Banka.
The monitoring policy, processes and practices applied by the ECB when carrying out the suitability assessment are determined in the ECB Guide to fit and proper assessment, available on the ECB Banking supervision website.
From January 2021, the significant supervised credit institutions shall submit the documents specified by Latvijas Banka electronically, using the Information Management System Portal of ECB (IMAS portal): www.bank.lv/en/operational-areas/licensing/credit-institution/imas-portal