Bulgarian National Bank: Compliance with EU Rules Will Be Improved

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said that it has responded to an October 17 letter by the Chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA) in connection with the ailing Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank). In its response, sent on October 21, BNB said that relevant EU law does not give direct powers to the Bulgarian competent authorities in the Corpbank case, but the country is taking steps to improve compliance with EU rules.

EBA claims that BNB and the Bulgarian Deposit Insurance Fund (BDIF) have breached the EU Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (Directive 94/19/EC). EBA has urged BNB to ensure that Corpbank depositors will obtain access to deposits protected under the EU directive by October 21. The directive aims at ensuring depositor protection for deposits of up to 100,000 euro.