GE Money Bank has agreed to pay 800 million Kč ($38 million) to the shareholders of the defunct bank Agrobanka, Hospodářské noviny reported April 6. In exchange, the shareholders will drop a bankruptcy motion that they agreed to seek the previous week. GE Money Bank bought a large stake in Agrobanka about a decade ago.

The Supreme Court has upheld a ruling declaring it illegal for a company to lend money that is then used to buy stock in the same company, Hospodářské noviny reported April 4. Two people convicted in the case, involving the firm Elektrotechnické závody, received three-month sentences.

The U.S. company Lycos has sold its 30 percent share of Seznam.cz, the Czech Republic’s largest search engine, to two companies for 1.8 billion Kč, Lidové noviny reported April 4. The buyers were Tiger Holding Four, a U.S. firm, and the Japanese group Miura International.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek rejected figures released by the Czech Statistical Office that set the public finance deficit for last year at an unexpectedly robust 2.95 percent, Lidové noviny reported April 3. The figure does not reflect the loss of 68.8 billion Kč in reserve funds, he said. If included, the deficit would near 5 percent.

Czech banks combined for a profit of 37.9 billion Kč last year, 1.2 billion Kč less than the previous year, Hospodářské noviny reported March 29. The drop was attributed to ČSOB’s return to a normal profit level, after the bank’s extraordinary returns in 2005. Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka and ČSOB were the most profitable banks, at about 10 billion Kč each.

European Union finance ministers approved a directive March 27 that will provide a single legal framework for European banks. The directive, if passed by the European Parliament, would eliminate national barriers related to electronic payments and banking takeovers. The plan is expected to save the EU economy from 50 billion euros ($66.5 billion/1.4 trillion Kč) to 100 billion euros each year.

Komerční banka has launched a pilot program at four branches in an effort to attract young customers, Hospodářské noviny reported April 10. The bank will staff its branches with young employees who equally young customers can relate to. Under the brand G2, Komerční banka plans to expand this program to 16 additional branches.

Deputy Justice Minister František Korbel and representatives of debt-collection agencies have reached an agreement that will lower fees on debts that are paid off promptly, Lidové noviny reported April 10. The agreement follows a Constitutional Court ruling in March that ordered the Justice Ministry to change its debt-collection guidelines.