Serbia's Postanska Stedionica to take over 400 mln euro in Nova Agrobanka deposits - fin min

The operation will involve 250 million euro ($325 million) in insured deposits and 150 million euro in uninsured deposits from Nova Agrobanka wholly-owned by Serbia's state-run Deposit Insurance Agency.

Insolvency proceedings against Nova Agrobanka are set to be launched on October 30 after the deposits are transferred to Postanska Stedionica, Dinkic said in a statement on Wednesday.

In December, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) placed Agrobanka under receivership and in May revoked its licence after the bank's receivers concluded that the activities taken during the administration process have failed to improve the bank's financial standing.

The Serbian government said on Monday it has approved a daft bill that would enable the transfer of the healthy assets and liabilities of Nova Agrobanka to Postanska Stedionica.

Dinkic said the bill should be adopted by parliament on Friday, clearing the way for the government to confirm the next day the transfer of all 250,000 Agrobanka deposit accounts to Postanska Stedionica.

He added that the finance ministry was notified by the NBS more than a month ago that preparations were underway to revoke Nova Agrobanka's operational licence, prompting the government to draft the bill which provides for the transfer of the assets and liabilities of troubled local banks to peers that are financially viable and stable.

($=0.7698 euro)