Latvia's Ministry of Finance, working with the Bank of Latvia and the Latvian Financial Industry Association, has put out for public consultation draft amendments to the Credit Institutions Law and related amendments to the Payment Services and Electronic Money Law. The proposal would shorten the limitation period after which a customer loses the right to claim a deposit from a credit institution, moving from the current 60 years to 10 years where no transactions have been made with the deposit. For cases where the customer is a deceased natural person, the draft would apply a separate five-year limitation period, aligned with the Civil Law rule that an inheritance claim becomes time-barred after five years. Credit institutions would also be required to inform depositors in good time about an approaching limitation deadline, provided that one year before expiry the deposit amount held at the credit institution is at least EUR 10. The package further refines the scope of criminal liability for credit institution employees and management or supervisory board members when, upon request, they provide non-disclosable information held by the credit institution to state institutions or officials. Transition provisions would start the new 10-year and five-year limitation periods from the date the amendments enter into force for contracts with natural persons who died or were declared dead before that date.

Original source View in tracker