OREANDA-NEWS. At the beginning of 2016, ABLV Bank introduces several new products and services. The latter include new bond issues, tax advantages for bondholders due to acquisition of the Qualified Intermediary status by the bank, and other innovations.

New bond issues

ABLV Bank will perform two new bond issues under the Fifth Bond Offer Programme, and the bonds are planned to be admitted to the regulated market – the Baltic bond list of Nasdaq Riga.

The subscription to bond issues will begin on 4 January 2016 and will last till 15 February 2016. The parameters of the issues are stated below.

  • Coupon bond issue of USD 75 000 000
    (issue name: ABLV FXD USD 220218; ISIN: LV0000801991)
    The issue size is USD 75 000 000. The number of bonds is 75 000. The face value of one bond is USD 1 000. The annual interest rate is fixed: 1.85% with coupon payment twice a year. Initial placement price: 100% of the face value. The issue date is 22 February 2016, and the maturity date is 22 February 2018.
  • Coupon bond issue of EUR 20 000 000
    (issue name: ABLV FXD EUR 220218; ISIN: LV0000802007)
    The issue size is EUR 20 000 000. The number of bonds is 20 000. The face value of one bond is EUR 1 000. The annual interest rate is fixed: 0.70% with coupon payment twice a year. Initial placement price: 100% of the face value. The issue date is 22 February 2016, and the maturity date is 22 February 2018.

Including the redeemed bonds, the bank has performed 32 public bond issues so far. Currently, there are 21 bond issues included in the Nasdaq Riga Baltic list of debt securities.

Qualified Intermediary status and tax advantages for bondholders

A long and labour-intensive process has been completed, and thus ABLV Bank has acquired the status of Qualified Intermediary (QI) of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This status ensures significant advantages for the bank and the customers.

Due to acquisition of the QI status, at the first stage, starting from 1 January 2016, it will be possible to apply reduced US tax rates to coupon payments on bonds of the US issuers that are included in customers’ securities portfolios, according to the tax residence declared by the customer. For example, if a bank customer is not a resident of the USA (the customer has proved it by submitting a respective W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E tax form), the tax rate of 30% applied to coupon payments on bonds of the US issuers earlier will be reduced to 0%.

ABLV Bank, AS is the largest independent private bank in Latvia. The bank’s major shareholders — O?egs Fi?s, Ernests Bernis and Nika Berne – directly and indirectly hold 86.25% of the bank's voting share capital. ABLV Group includes ABLV Bank, AS; ABLV Bank Luxembourg, S.A.; ABLV Capital Markets, IBAS; ABLV Asset Management, IPAS; Pillar Holding Company, KS; ABLV Consulting Services, AS; ABLV Corporate Services, SIA; New Hanza City, SIA, and other companies. ABLV Group has representative offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Almaty, Baku, Tashkent, Hong Kong, and Limassol.