Cleaves Securities has denied Scandinavian media reports it has been declared bankrupt over a small outstanding tax bill in Norway.

The investment bank’s chief executive, Per Olav Karlsen, told TradeWinds that the matter had been “inflated” and that the company remains entirely solvent.

He dismissed as “nonsense” reports that the Norwegian tax administration had given the company a month to pay about $500,000 or it would initiate bankruptcy proceedings.