Tunisia: judiciary asked to liquidate French-Tunisian Bank

The judiciary in Tunisia has been asked to issue a ruling to liquidate and dissolve the French-Tunisian Bank, one of the oldest banking institutions in the country, Reuters has reported.

The Committee for the Rescue of Troubled Banks and Financial Institutions, headed by the Governor of the Central Bank in Tunis, said that it has noticed that the bank has stopped paying and cannot be rescued. This is the first Tunisian bank to declare bankruptcy due to financial problems accumulated over many years.

The committee added that the Bank Deposit Fund will compensate depositors up to a maximum of 60,000 Tunisian dinars (about $20,600).

The bank was at the centre of a dispute that lasted more than three decades between one of its first shareholders and the Tunisian state. The latter confiscated all the shares at the time, which exacerbated the financial problems facing the institution.

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