A Dutch court has declared the Russian-owned Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) bankrupt after it was caught up in sanctions related to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Amsterdam's district court issued the ruling on the bank, which is a subsidiary of Russia's Alfa Bank, in a decision confirmed on April 22 by the Dutch central bank.
The bank, founded in 1994, had around 23,000 customers, most of whom are Dutch, but 6,000 are German, the Dutch central bank said in a statement on its website.
The statement said ATB depositors would be covered up to 100,000 euros ($108,000) each under the Netherlands' deposit guarantee system.
According to filings at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, one of the bank’s largest owners is Mikhail Fridman, the Russian-Israeli billionaire who is contesting Western sanctions imposed on him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Alfa Bank, Russia's top private lender, is subject to U.S. sanctions imposed on April 6, which froze all its assets linked to the U.S. financial system. It is also subject to British sanctions.
Alfa Bank has not been targeted by the European Union, and Amsterdam Trade Bank itself had not been sanctioned.
In a statement on its website, ATB confirmed that it had requested bankruptcy. The bank said that U.S. and British sanctions had "caused operational difficulties, as the majority of ATB's counterparties, including corresponding banks...find it difficult to continue supporting ATB."
The bankrupt bank recently condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while stressing its focus was serving European small and medium-sized businesses.
In a statement at the time it said that, as a regulated Dutch bank, it acted independently of shareholders and complied with all sanctions against Russia.
