Bank Snoras

Bankas Snoras AB or simply SNORAS was a commercial bank, founded in Lithuania operating in all three Baltic states. It was a member of the financial group Konversbank and was listed on the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius stock exchange. On November 16, 2011, 100% of the bank shares were nationalized by the Lithuanian government and the bank was placed into temporary administration. On November 24, the bank was declared bankrupt. It had 4 billion litas in debt.

History

Bankas Snoras AB was founded 1992 as a regional bank of Šiauliai and renamed to its current name in 1993. It was recognised as the best bank in Lithuania in 2006 by financial publisher The Banker. However, an inspection at the bank in November 2011 revealed poor asset quality, weak risk management and lack of proper operating data. The check also revealed that the bank has ignored the central bank's recommendation to reduce operating risks.

Shareholders

Snoras was listed on the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius stock exchange. Major shareholders, holding more than 5% of the shares of the company were:

Vladimir Antonov – 67%

Raimondas Baranauskas – 25%

Notable subsidiaries

Snoras has invested in a variety of business, most notable are:

Investment bank Finasta

Latvian bank Latvijas Krājbanka

Investment in car industry

In 2008, Snoras purchased 29.8% of shares of Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker Cars. In the same year, Snoras sold the stake in Spyker Cars. In 2010, Snoras became sponsor of Renault F1 team.