LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 27 (SeeNews) – Slovenia’s bailed-out Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) said on Monday it will close its representative office in Moscow as of January 31 as part of a cost-cutting programme.
The Russian market has not lost its importance for the Slovenian exporters, NLB said in a statement, adding that it will continue to provide export financing from its head office in Ljubljana and to service exporters through correspondent banks.
NLB, Slovenia's biggest bank by assets, has been operating in Russia since 1992, when it set up an office to support Slovenian companies doing business there.
NLB is carrying out a restructuring, approved by the European Commission, which aims to improve its capital adequacy and maintain its long-term stability. At the end of December, the bank received a capital injection by the state and signed an agreement to transfer non-performing loans to the Bank Asset Management Company, the bad bank created to ring fence impaired assets of the country's lenders.