Riga - Latvia's Parex Bank, which was nationalized in November to prevent its collapse, on Tuesday reported net losses of 124 million lats (232 million dollars) for
2008.

Chairman Nils Melngailis, who has helped stabilize the stricken lender since being appointed by the government, said he was optimistic about the bank's future prospects and that there was no need to rush to a sell-off of the bank's assets.

"We don't see any assets that are costing us a great deal. In today's market when prices are depressed we are going to maintain a 'hold' strategy for all of our assets as long as we can," Melngailis told the German Press Service dpa.

"We won't make any decisions about asset or subsidiary disposals until we finalize our review of strategy in May," he added.

Melngailis also pointed to the successful conclusion of negotiations with syndicated lenders over a revised repayment plan, plus a potential investment in Parex by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development as further evidence that the bank was a viable concern.

Parex remains the largest locally-owned bank in Latvia with 20,000 corporate and 271,000 customers and a market share of 14.7 per cent by assets in a market dominated by big Scandinavian banks.

Parex's near-collapse in late 2008 shocked Latvia when founders Valery Kargin and Viktor Krasovickis sold their 85 per cent holding in the high-flying bank to the state for just 1 lat (1.80 dollars) each. dpa