NLB Bank wants to become the leader in Serbia, whose market is among the fastest growing in the region and with the smallest drop in GDP during the Covid crisis, says Blaz Brodnjak, president of the NLB Group, which officially became the owner of the domestic Komercijalna Banka at the end of 2020.
We want to become the leading banking institution in Serbia. This is not possible if we do not offer favorable conditions and if we are not competitive. Komercijalna banka will be a distributor of universal financial services, in addition to classic banking and insurance, as well as asset management, Brodnjak said in an interview with Telgraf Biznis.
According to him, Komercijalna banka has already been the market leader for some time, so in recent years it has been somewhat more passive, and NLB’s mission is to return it to clients in all segments, offering relevant services for the economy, agriculture and citizens.
We will basically do what we do in Slovenia here. For us, Serbia is the largest market in the region and with great potential for growth. In addition, Serbia had the smallest drop in GDP in the region during the Covid, Brodnjak said
He believes that the depth of the financial sector in the region is very low, which means that there is a great opportunity for the growth of lending, insurance, and asset management.
We are still below half when it comes to the share of loans to citizens in GDP compared to developed countries 20-22 percent, and in developed countries this percentage is several times higher. In insurance, for example, the annual premium per capita in Slovenia is more than 1,000 euros, while in Serbia it is 50, which clearly shows what potential we are talking about, he specified.
He also points out that Serbia is among the fastest growing markets when it comes to technologies and acceptance of digitalization in its activities and projects, which, according to him, will additionally encourage banks to compete with Fintek companies with the quality of their offer.
Furthermore, the closer you are to the EU, the more convergence occurs, because the key risks of the country are reduced, which lowers interest rates and total costs for the state, but also for the population and companies. So, a better experience with lower prices, says Brodnjak.
He believes that in a few years, half of the cash loan will be approved and paid off over the phone, also it will be possible to arrange a housing loan online, that it will be paid with credit cards over the phone and not plastic, which is ultimately “matter of sustainability”.
As for the cause-and-effect relationship between digitalization and the number of employees in banks, he says that there will be fewer bankers, because customer service is done by models and digital solutions, but there will be a need to hire those who can develop these tools, models, systems and robots.
For hardworking people who are dedicated, who invest in their education and are ready to change, of course there will always be places, but there will be no place for everyone. NLB will, for example, halve the number of employees in Slovenia, from the former 4,200 to 2,100 in a few years. So there will be fewer of them, but on average they will be better paid, he said.
In the end, Brodnjak emphasized that the economic borders in the region should be demolished, that this area used to be and that it should become one market again, noting that it is economic pragmatism because “if not before the EU, when you enter the EU, all those borders fall anyway, so why wait”.
If you look at the countries individually, they are small fragmented markets, but if you look at them as a whole, it is already a very serious market in the Western Balkans with Croatia and Slovenia. Then it is something completely different and it reminds of Scandinavia…open economic zones where there are no borders for goods, talents and capital, Brodnjak concluded, Dnevnik reports.
