BELGRADE (Serbia), March 31 (SeeNews) – Serbia's central bank NBS said on Friday majority state-owned lenders Komercijalna banka [BEL:KMBN] and Banka Postanska Stedionica booked losses in 2016 as they needed to clean up their balance sheets.
The loss of the two banks in 2016 is the result of poor decisions of their previous management teams which led to the problem of non-performing loans (NPLs), NBS said in a statement.
Through the cleaning of balance sheets from NPLs, Komercijalna banka and Banka Postanska Stedionica laid a solid base for their future sustainable growth, the central bank said.
The banking sector in Serbia is stable, with the average capital adequacy ratio (CAR) standing way above the threshold of 12%, NBS pointed out.
Serbian banks managed to reduce costs and cope with the low interest rates on the market, the central bank added.
The loss of Komercijalna banka and Banka Postanska Stedionica came in at 8.063 billion dinars ($69.5 million/65.1 million euro) and 6.329 billion dinars in 2016, respectively.
The Serbian government controls a 41.7% stake in Komercijalna Banka and a 75% stake in Banka Postanska Stedionica.
(1 euro = 123.813 euro)