Brussels, 26/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 26 January, the European Commission granted temporary clearance of Latvian support measures needed for the phasing out of the activities of the Mortgage and Land Bank (MLB), a mixed development and commercial bank, and for its transformation exclusively into a development bank. Aid consists in the recapitalisation of LVL 70.2 million granted in March 2010, an additional recapitalisation measure, a standby liquidity facility, guarantees to international creditors of the commercial segment of MLB, and liquidity support for the solvent liquidation of bad assets. In parallel, the Commission will examine in depth the deadlines envisaged for sale of the activities and the liquidation of activities that cannot be sold in the short term. It hopes to also ensure that, as a development bank, MLB will not grant loans that can be obtained from commercial banks. In 2009, MLB had already benefited from two recapitalisation measures for a total of €102.48 million. (FG/transl.jl)