Peters Putnins. (Photo: Agencies)

RIGA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Latvian banking regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC), tendered resignation on Thursday, local media reported.

FCMC Chairman Peters Putnins and his deputy Gunta Razane presented their resignation letters to Finance Minister Janis Reirs who passed them on to the parliament.

Both Putnins and Razane are leaving their jobs at the FCMC on July 15. Under recently adopted legislative amendments, they will receive 80 percent of their respective annual salaries in compensation in a mutually agreed resignation scheme.

Finance Minister Reirs and the Bank of Latvia now have to propose a candidate for the regulator's acting chief.

Putnins became FCMC chairman in February 2016 and Razane was appointed his deputy in October 2016.

In recent years, the Latvian banking sector has been rocked by a number of money laundering and corruption scandals. Notably, ABLV Bank, one of Latvia's largest banks by assets, has gone into liquidation following a damning report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the US Department of the Treasury about the Bank's involvement in international money laundering schemes and bribery.

The FCMC's efforts to prevent the laundering of illicit money through Latvian banks have been criticized as insufficient.