The Superintendent of Financial Institutions on Wednesday moved to protect depositors and creditors of the Canadian branch of Maple Bank GmbH by taking temporary control of the assets of the branch.

“The Superintendent took this action to preserve the value of the assets held at the branch in light of the decision of the German prudential regulator to close the bank for business with customers,” the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions says in its announcement.

On Feb. 6, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) ordered Maple Bank to close its doors amid concerns about its balance sheet, particularly its debt position.

Maple Bank operates in Canada as a foreign bank branch based in Toronto that is regulated by OSFI.

The branch holds a “small number” of wholesale deposits in Canada, but the branch’s primary businesses are securitization, securities financing and structured secured wholesale lending, OSFI notes.

Maple Bank is not a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp., so its deposits are not insured by CDIC, OSFI says.

“We are guided by our mandate, which is to protect the depositors and creditors of the Canadian branch and have taken this step to safeguard their interests,” says Jeremy Rudin, Superintendent, in a statement.

National Bank of Canada, which owns approximately 24.9% of the bank’s parent company, Maple Financial Group Inc., on Monday announced it would write down the full value of that holding, approximately $165 million, in light of the German regulator’s move.

See: National Bank to write off investment after Germany shuts down Maple Bank

As for Maple’s Canadian investment dealer subsidiaries — Maple Securities Canada Ltd. and Maple Futures Corp. — the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) says it has been in “constant communication” with the firms, and “has taken the necessary regulatory actions to preserve the firms’ capital in Canada.”

IIROC is coordinating its intervention with the firms’ other regulators and clearing agencies in Canada. “We continue to closely oversee the capital and liquidity of the firms as they reduce their business activities,” the self-regulatory organization says, and it intends to work with the firms “as their management assesses their options and determines their next steps.”