Bulgaria's Govt to End State Aid Contract with Fibank

The development at Fibank prompted the state to intervene and prevent a bigger run, which had not been the case with KTB a week earlier. File photo, BGNES

The Bulgarian government has allowed the Finance Minister to end a contract with First Investment Bank (Fibank) under which the financial company received state aid to prevent a collapse.

The contract, approved by the European Commission, has been already fulfilled on behalf of Fibank, the cabinet notes in a press statement.

In May, the bank repaid the BGN 1.2 B state aid it was provided two years earlier.

Fibank, Bulgaria's third-largest lender, was in urgent need of liquidity support a week after the collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) in June 2014 when depositors withdrew BGN 800 M from the bank in a single day due to the dissemination of false information.