Secretary General of the Association of Serbian Banks (UBS) Vladimir Vasic said that the consolidation of banks will be beneficial in many ways for clients, citizens and the economy.
Answering a question about changes in the Serbian banking market in 2021, Vasic said for Politika that banks are improving their products and services by entering larger systems, that the expertise they have is richer, as well as credit capacities.
“Larger banking groups can now financially support much larger projects, and also turn to specific types of lending, such as investing in energy efficiency and green energy sources,” Vasic said.
He pointed out that the possibility of banks significantly depends on access to long-term sources of financing, so that the deadline for financing would be in line with the economic life of the investment itself.
Answering the question whether there will be places for small banks on the Serbian market at all, Vasic said that the number of banks on the market is still large, higher than optimal and that it is therefore almost certain that the consolidation trend will continue in the future.
“In the conditions of low interest rates and strong competition, the market determines which number of banks is realistic and optimal,” he emphasized. He added that, after several integrations in the past period, including this year, there will be 21 banks in our market.
According to the NBS, in the first 10 months of 2021, 20 banks were operating at a profit, while four were operating at a loss, 021 writes.
