For a major Czech bank, Investicni a Postovni Banka was deeply untransparent. Bank analysts, auditors and central bankers tried in vain to map the labyrinth controlled by vice-chairman Libor Prochazka. They didn’t much like the bank or its emphatically non-strategic partner Nomura. So, when catastrophe hit IPB in June, the government stepped in heavily and maybe did the wrong thing, for the right reason – or vice versa. Was this the best way for an EU candidate to reform its financial sector? David Shirreff reports
September 01, 2000