Sberbank, UniCredit, SocGen eye Serbia's RBV – media

RBV will be taken over by the bank which offers the best conditions and the process should be completed next month, news daily Dnevnik (www.dnevnik.rs) reported.

The Serbian government said earlier in December that it had agreed with the provincial government of Vojvodina to protect the depositors in loss-making RBV by transferring their deposits to another bank, while its loans would be moved to a newly-established fund.

The agreement envisages the transfer of nearly 110 million euro ($146.1 million) in insured deposits and close to 100 million euro in uninsured deposits, owned by about 80,000 clients of RBV.

The uninsured deposits will be secured with 70 million euro worth of five-year bonds, 78.11% of which are to be issued by the Vojvodina provincial government and the remaining 21.89% issued by the central government. The bonds would later be transferred to the state-run Deposit Insurance Agency and then to one of the commercial banks in Serbia and would be tradable on the secondary market.

The other part of the agreement stipulates the establishment of the Development Fund of Vojvodina, in which the Vojvodina province and Serbia would participate with 78.11% and 21.89%, respectively. The fund would then take over RBV’s fixed assets and part of its loan portfolio.

($=0.7531 euro)