Press Release: State aid: Commission approves liquidation aid for Danish Eik Bank

The European Commission has cleared under EU State aid rules the Danish support towards the liquidation of Eik Bank, as it provided for an orderly wind-up of the bank and foresees sufficient safeguards to limit distortions of competition. The bank, until 2010 the biggest financial institution in the Faroe Island, with significant retail and corporate banking activities in the rest of Denmark, came into severe liquidity and solvency difficulties due to excessive lending in risky projects and entered into an agreement with the Danish scheme for the winding-up of financial institutions in distress.