The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced today that Sberbank Serbia is highly liquid and well-capitalized and is not affected by the European Central Bank’s (ECB) assessment of possible bankruptcy due to a large outflow of deposits recorded in Croatian branches, Austria and Slovenia.
Regarding the measures of the ECB and the Single Board for Bank Restructuring towards Sberbank Europe AG Vienna, which is owned by Sberbank Serbia, the NBS announced that this bank, which operates as an independent legal entity based in Serbia, is “highly liquid and well capitalized the basic sources of its financing are provided on the domestic market and the mentioned decisions do not refer to Sberbank Serbia in any case”.
ECB: European branches of Russian Sberbank face bankruptcy
The European branches of the Russian bank Sberbank are facing bankruptcy, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced today after the imposition of sanctions on Russia due to the attack on Ukraine. The ECB estimated that Sberbank Europe AG and its two subsidiaries, Sberbank dd in Croatia and Sberbank banka dd in Slovenia, are likely to fail due to the deterioration of their liquidity situation. Sberbank Europe AG also has branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia. They would also be affected by bankruptcy, but they are not under the jurisdiction of the ECB.
AIK Bank has acquired the conditions for taking over Sberbank in Serbia
AIK Bank announced that it received the consent of the National Bank of Serbia and the competent regulatory bodies today, thus fulfilling all the conditions for taking over Sberbank in Serbia. In this way, AIK Bank will increase its market share in Serbia to nine percent and become one of the most important banks in Serbia with the value of its new balance sheet assets, the statement said.
Last year, AIK Bank, owned by businessman Miodrag Kostic, started the process of taking over Sberbank, which increased its client base by more than 180,000 individuals and legal entities, while the total assets of the banking group will increase by 1.7 billion euros.
“By strengthening our market position, we are one step closer to achieving our strategic goal of positioning ourselves as one of the leading banking groups in the region. The size of our assets will increase to almost four billion euros, with a market share of nine percent”, to take the sixth place on the banking market of Serbia “, pointed out the President of the Executive Board of AIK Bank Jelena Galić. The President of the Executive Board of Sberbank of Serbia, Vladimir BoÅ¡ković, said that the bank achieved the best business result last year, with a significant increase in the value of the loan portfolio and a 30% increase in deposits. “Integration awaits us in the next period, and I am convinced that we will complete this process very quickly and successfully,” Boskovic said.
The ECB announced that the European branches of the Russian Sberbank will probably fail due to the large outflow of deposits, after the introduction of sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for the attack on Ukraine.
That is why the European Joint Resolution Committee has introduced a moratorium on Sberbank’s payments in Croatia, Austria and Slovenia, and it should assess whether saving the bank is in the public interest.
The NBS stressed that the stability and security of operations of all banks in Serbia, as well as savings deposits are fully preserved, recalling that both dinar and foreign currency customer deposits in banks, in accordance with the Law on Deposit Insurance, insured up to 50,000 euros in dinar equivalent.
As stated, the Central Bank of Serbia constantly monitors and analyzes the situation in the financial sector, as well as the situation on the entire domestic and international market, especially now in the conditions of increased geopolitical uncertainty caused by the crisis in Ukraine.
“Apart from closely monitoring the operations of Sberbank Serbia and all key indicators and trends, the NBS also has continuous communication with the bank’s management, and no problems in the bank’s operations have been identified during the entire process,” the NBS said.
He added that the NBS would, if necessary, take all necessary measures at its disposal in order to preserve the stability of the bank’s operations, and thus monetary and financial stability, ie macroeconomic stability as a whole.
“Should the need arise, the NBS has at its disposal a number of instruments and regulatory measures with which it can react quickly and efficiently and thus ensure liquidity, ie fulfillment of all obligations of this bank towards depositors at all times,” the statement reads.
The NBS believes that the business of Sberbank of Serbia will be additionally affected by the fact that it gave its prior consent, at the request of AIK Bank, to acquire ownership in Sberbank of Serbia, and that the process of changing ownership in Sberbank of Serbia is being finalized.
The ECB said that Sberbank Europe AG, headquartered in Austria and with branches in Croatia and Slovenia, “experienced a significant outflow of deposits as a result of the impact of geopolitical tensions on its reputation”, adding that the three Russian lenders were failing or likely to fail due to deterioration. their liquidity situations.
The ECB estimated that these branches of Sberbank in Europe will probably not be able to pay their debts or other obligations when they mature, stating that there are no available measures that would give a real chance to restore Sberbank’s position at the group level or its branches within the banking union.
The ECB also reminded that Sberbank Europe also has branches outside the European Banking Union, including the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and Serbia, and that because they are not under the ECB’s jurisdiction, it has contacted national competent authorities in those countries.
Sberbank of Europe also has branches in Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Kurir reports.