BELGRADE (Serbia), November 18 (SeeNews) – Serbia’s central bank has formally ended its direct administration of Metals Banka as a capital hike by the state has stabilised the blue-chip lender, the central bank said on Wednesday.
The central bank, NBS, took over the management of Metals Banka in October of last year after the bank's financial results worsened due to the financial crisis. The proper conditions for the lifting of the forced management were created in July when the government of Serbia’s Vojvodina province raised the capital of Metals Banka, becoming an owner of a 62% stake.
“Metals Banka held an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on November 12, at which it named the chairman and the members of the bank’s management board previously approved by NBS,” the central bank said in a statement.
At its first meeting held on the same day the new management board named the chairman and the members of the bank's executive board who also were prevoiusly endorsed by NBS.
Metals Banka turned to a pre-tax loss of 361 million dinars ($5.7 million/3.8 million euro) in the first nine months of 2009 from a pre-tax profit of 418 million dinars a year earlier, NBS figures showed.
Metals Banka's 23 billion dinars in assets ranked it as the 22nd largest bank in Serbia, where 34 lenders operated at the end of September.
Metals Banka shares slid 1.18% to 7,120 dinars on the Belgrade Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
(1 euro=94.5369 Serbian dinars)