February 28 (SeeNews) - The banking agencies of Bosnia's two entities, the Federation and the Serb Republic, said they have taken control of the two local subsidiaries of Austria-based Sberbank Europe, which is owned by Russia's Sberbank, to preserve the stability of Bosnia's banking system and protect the bank's depositors and creditors.
The Banking agency of the Federation decided to suspend all competencies of the shareholders assembly of Sberbank BH Sarajevo, except with the prior consent from the agency, due to the announced plans to exclude financial institutions linked to Russia from the SWIFT international payments system, it said in a statement on Sunday.
The banking agency is also temporarily banning the distribution of dividend by Sberbank BH Sarajevo.
The deputy director of the Banking Agency of the Serb Republic, Srdzan Suput, said in an interview with local broadcaster RTRS that the agency will take control of Sberbank Banja Luka the preserve the stability of the financial sector in the entity.
Sarajevo-based Sberbank BH and Banja Luka-based Sberbank Banja Luka are subsidiaries of Austria-based Sberbank Europe, which in turn is owned by Russia's state controlled lender Sberbank.
The U.S. and the EU decided on Saturday to exclude important Russian banks from the SWIFT system in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.