Latvia Narrows Roster for Top Central-Bank Job as Deadline Nears

(Bloomberg) --

Latvia’s governing coalition has narrowed its choices to two candidates to take over for Ilmars Rimsevics as central bank governor when his term of office expires this month, according to Latvian TV.

The five-party coalition is considering central bank board member Martins Kazaks and ex-bank regulator Uldis Cerps, Latvian TV reported on Monday without saying where it got the information. The coalition extended the deadline to make a nomination to Dec. 3, after failing to agree on Nov. 29. Parliament would then need to confirm the choice.

The Baltic nation, a euro member since 2014, was plunged into crisis in February last year when the U.S. Treasury accused its third-biggest bank of money laundering, sparking its demise. Rimsevics was briefly detained that same month and later charged with bribery. He denies all charges and blames a group of commercial banks for his troubles.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Jana Randow

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