STA, 22 July 2022 - Slovenia's largest banks, NLB and NKBM, have announced they will stop charging negative interest rates on large deposits on the accounts of individuals and legal entities starting from 1 August, after the ECB raised its key interest rates on Thursday. Smaller banks are taking similar measures as well.

"Following the decision by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank to raise key interest rates in the euro zone by 0.5 percentage points, NLB has taken a decision to stop charging compensation for high balances on accounts and in deposit transactions," the bank said on Friday.

A similar message came from NKBM. "From 1 August, the bank will abolish the deposit charge for customers who are natural and legal persons. This means that we will no longer charge the fee, regardless of their account credit," the bank said in a press release.

Negative rates on large deposits will also be discontinued from August by Sparkasse. The bank only imposed such charges on legal entities. The DBS bank will discontinue such charges on physical persons in August.

The banks SKB, Unicredit and Delavska Hranilnica had previously announced they would lift the charges as soon as the ECB decided to end negative interest rates.

STA, 6 January 2022 - UniCredit Banka Slovenija will join the five banks in Slovenia that have already introduced a fee on high deposits for individuals. The bank announced on Thursday that it will introduce it for all physical persons whose deposits exceed EUR 100,000.

The first to introduce the fee in April 2021 were market leader NLB and SKB, which were followed by NKBM, Addiko Bank, and Delavska Hranilnica.

The five banks' total assets represent over 60% of Slovenia's banking market.

At all these banks, deposits of over EUR 100,000 are subject to the charge, which at most of the banks stands at 0.04%.

Eurozone banks increasingly opted for this measure last year due to extremely low interest rates and high liquidity, after first imposing it on legal persons.

STA, 31 May 2021 - The Hungarian OTP Bank Group announced on Monday it had signed a contract to acquire the outright stake in NKBM, Slovenia's second largest bank. The deal is expected to be finalised in the second quarter of next year as the acquirer is waiting approval from relevant regulatory authorities.

Owned by the US fund Apollo (80%) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (20%), NKBM controls 20.5% of the Slovenian market and is the second largest bank in the country.

OTP already owns SKB Banka, which it acquired from France's Societe Generale for EUR 323 million under an agreement signed in 2019.

Combined with NKBM, the new bank would control some 29% of the market measured by total assets to leapfrog the current market leader, NLB.

The price of the NKBM acquisition remains confidential. The Reuters news agency reported in April that it could be worth nearly a billion euro.

OTP was an early favourite to acquire NKBM, though the business newspaper Finance, which first reported today about the deal, says several other bidders expressed interest as well, among them Erste Group from Austria and Belgium's KBC.

NKBM was sold to Apollo and the EBRD in 2016 for EUR 250 million, and NKBM purchased the Abanka bank in mid-2019 for EUR 444 million, when the OTP Bank Group was also in play to buy Abanka.

NKBM and Abanka were among the banks that the state bailed out at the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014 after difficulties brought about by the economic and financial crisis.

Slovenia promised to the European Commission, in return to approval of state aid, that it will privatise the banks. In the case of Abanka, the condition was also that it is merged with the Banka Celje bank before privatisation.

NKBM ended 2020 with a net profit of EUR 208.9 million, and its total assets stood at EUR 9.17 billion.

STA, 3 December 2020 - As part of the latest effort to crack down on money mule schemes in Europe, a total of 81 cases have been investigated in Slovenia, in which 102 money mules have been identified. A total loss by legal entities and individuals of EUR 2.1 million has been prevented, the Bank Association of Slovenia announced on Thursday.

Money mules take part - often unknowingly - in money laundering activities by receiving and transferring illegally obtained money between bank accounts and/or countries.

The sixth European Money Mule Action (EMMA6), coordinated by Europol and involving law enforcement authorities from 26 countries, was conducted between 15 September and 30 November.

It resulted in the identification of 4,031 money mules as part of 1,159 criminal investigations. A total of 422 persons have been arrested in the sting that also involved the Slovenian police.

The operation featured more than 500 banks and financial institutions which helped to report 4,942 fraudulent money mule transactions, preventing a total loss of EUR 33.5 million, the Bank Association of Slovenia said.

According to the Slovenian police, a total of 81 cases have been investigated in Slovenia, in which 102 money mules have been identified.

In cooperation with the Office for Money Laundering Prevention, Slovenian banks and foreign security authorities, a total loss of EUR 2.1 million by legal entities and individuals has been prevented.

Money mules take part - often unknowingly - in money laundering activities by receiving and transferring illegally obtained money between bank accounts and/or countries.

They are recruited by criminals and paid a fee to launder money gained illegally through information or cyber fraud, including breaches into information systems, interception of business correspondence or re-routing of payments.

According to the Bank Association of Slovenia, the message of this year's campaign is that people should be careful not to become a link in a money laundering chain.

"If you think that someone you know is a money mule, inform them immediately about the consequences of their acts," it said, adding that suspicions should be reported to the police and the relevant bank.

The EMMA operation is part of a project implemented within Europol's Cybercrime Payment Fraud Operational Action Plan, which targets cybercrime and money laundering and aims to raise public awareness in these fields.

STA, 18 March 2020 - The Italian owners of the Slovenian subsidiary of the banking group Unicredit confirmed on Wednesday the allocation of EUR 22.8 million out of EUR 45.1 million in last year's distributable profit for dividends, meaning EUR 4.67 gross per share. The remainder will remain undistributed.

The Unicredit shareholders were also notified of the supervisory board changes - the term of five supervisors is to expire on 4 April, Pasquale Giamboi and Andrea Cesaroni will remain on the board for another term, while other three supervisors will be replaced by Enrica Rimoldi, Giorgiana Lazar O'Callaghan and Fabio Fornarolli.

Unicredit Slovenia also endorsed a multi-annual development plan for the period up to 2023 at today's meeting.

Last year, Unicredit Banka Slovenija and Unicredit Leasing generated EUR 79 million in operating revenue, a 0.5% increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, net interest revenue dropped by 8.2% to EUR 46 million compared to 2018.

The Italian banking group Unicredit generated EUR 3.4 billion in net profit, down almost 18% year-on-year. The group's revenue saw a downturn as well, with the management attributing poorer business results mostly to a drop in net interest revenue.

STA, 26 February 2020 - The Slovenian NLB bank announced on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with the Serbian government to acquire the 83% state stake in the bank Komercijalna Banka. The deal worth EUR 387 million is pending regulatory approval and is expected to be finalised in the last quarter of the year.

Announcing the deal signed today between the NLB management and the Serbian government, the bank said the conclusion of the transaction was pending approvals from several institutions, including the European Central Bank and the countries' central banks.

According to the NLB, the purchase price for the 83.23% stake in Komercijalna Banka is EUR 387 million, which will be payable in cash on completion.

The Slovenian market leader added that, in accordance with the Serbian bank privatisation regulations, it was not required to launch a mandatory tender offer for the rest of the shares in the Serbian bank.

The purchase price implies a valuation of EUR 465 million for 100% of Komercijalna Banka's ordinary share capital.

It will be subject to a 2% annual interest rate between 1 January 2020 and closing, with NLB benefiting from the bank's earnings during that period.

Subject to approval of the Serbian central bank, the existing shareholders of Komercijalna Banka will receive a dividend equating to 50% of 2019 net profit up to a maximum of EUR 38 million before closing.

As a result of the transaction, NLB's market share in Serbia will increase to over 12.1% by total assets, making it the third largest banking group in the country, the Slovenian bank added.

"NLB's operations in Serbia will be by far the largest outside of Slovenia," commented Blaž Brodnjak, the CEO of the bank which already operates the NLB Banka Beograd subsidiary.

The Serbian subsidiary, which has 28 offices and which had total assets of EUR 614 million and posted EUR 4.1 million in net profit last year, posted a 29% growth in net loans to customers in 2019, the biggest in the group.

According to the Serbian media, Komercijalna Banka has EUR 3.5 billion in total assets, and last year posted EUR 74 million in profit. The bank has 2,744 employees and 200 offices in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

STA, 25 February 2020 - The Bank Association has observed a "marked fall" in freshly approved retail loans in the months following the central bank's brake on lending to households, both for consumer and housing loans.

"In the field of consumer loans, the situation has resulted in net repayments - a nominal decline - which increased further in December," the association said on Tuesday.

Data that 13 banks submitted to the association show the number of newly approved consumer loans reduced from 10,816 in September and 13,484 in October to 5,566 in November, 5,009 in December and 6,277 in January.

40% Fall in Housing Loans, 60% in Consumer Loans, After Slovenia Tightened Credit Rules

The number of housing loans dropped from 1,154 in September, 1,701 in October, 1,160 in November, 984 in December and 1,019 in January.

The association did not offer year-on-year comparisons which would eliminate seasonal changes in trends.

The central bank has recently assessed that the implementation of its decision on macro-prudential restrictions on retail lending has partly affected lending trends.

However, Banka Slovenije also said it would be premature to draw any conclusions on the effects of the measure because it was necessary to take into consideration non-typical conduct by banks and borrowers in anticipation of the measure, and after its implementation, delays in loan drawing and the effect of holidays and season.

Central bank data show that housing loans increased by EUR 105 million and consumer loans rose by EUR 14 million in the final quarter of 2019, which compares to EUR 64 million and EUR 69 million, respectively in 2018.

Year-on-year growth in housing loans stayed at 5.8% in December, while the net monthly growth in those loans, at EUR 23 million, was lower than the average for 2019, at EUR 29 million.

Bank Calls for Review of New Loan Restrictions After Dramatic Fall in Mortgages, Consumer Lending

The growth in consumer loans, at an average rate of 11.7% in 2019, slowed down to 8.9% year-on-year in December following the central bank's restrictions on consumer lending.

An increase in the volume of consumer loans in October was followed by a decrease in November and December by EUR 15 million and EUR 21 million, respectively, the central bank said.

Banka Slovenije imposed lending restrictions to curb excessive consumer lending and cut loan maturity. It expects the lending level to be stabilised to better match other economic parameters and that consumer loans will be directed with respect to their purpose into housing loans even though they are less profitable for banks.

STA, 21 February 2020 - Slovenian banks generated a combined pre-tax profit of EUR 597.4 million last year, which the central bank says is the highest pre-tax profit on record. The figure is up 12.5% from the year before.

Profit after tax rose by 8% last year to EUR 534.9 million, while the banks increased their total assets by 6.3% to EUR 41.2 billion, the latest report by the central bank shows.

Net interest revenue rose by 1.6% to EUR 682.7 million and non-interest revenue increased by 19.1% to EUR 573.4 million.

The banks' bottom line was positively affected by net release of impairments and provisions. The pre-tax return on equity was 12.3%. Costs rose by 5.6% to EUR 706.8 million.

The growth in lending to the non-banking sector slowed down in December to 5.8% year-on-year, mainly because of a slowdown in corporate loans.

"The volume of loans to companies decreased by EUR 262 million in December, the most since 2016, and is partly attributable to the maturity of major loans agreed mid-last year," Banka Slovenije said.

Year-on-year growth in housing loans stayed at 5.8% in December. "After two distinctively above-average months the net monthly growth in those loans, at EUR 23 million, was lower than the average for 2019, at EUR 29 million."

The growth in consumer loans, at an average rate of 11.7% in 2019, slowed down to 8.9% year-on-year in December following the central bank's restrictions on consumer lending.

"An increase in the volume of consumer loans in October was followed by a decrease in November and December by EUR 15 million and EUR 21 million, respectively," says the report.

In the last quarter of the year, housing loans increased by EUR 105 million and consumer loans rose by EUR 14 million, which compares to EUR 64 million and EUR 69 million, respectively in 2018.

"We assess that the changed trends in retail lending were partly affected by the implementation of the decision on macro-prudential restrictions on retail lending in November," said the central bank.

However, it added that it was premature to draw any conclusions on the effects of the measure, because it was necessary to take into consideration non-typical conduct by banks and borrowers in anticipation of the measure, and after its implementation, delays in loan drawing and the effect of holidays and season.

Banks also continued to reduce exposure to non-performing loans last year; these decreased by EUR 128 million in December to one billion euro, and their proportion in total exposure to 2.2%.

The non-banking sector's deposits in 2019 increased by 7.2%, the annual growth since 2014. In December, household loans increased by 8.7% year-on-year, which compares to 11-month average 7.5%

The growth in corporate deposits have been slowing down since mid-2018; in December it decreased by 0.4% year-on-year.

STA, 21 January 2020 - Bank NLB has asked the Constitutional Court to review tighter restrictions on lending imposed by the central bank in November. After filing the request on Tuesday, the bank expressed belief that its request would be a matter of priority for the court because of the "radical effect" the measures had on the quality of Slovenians' lives.

The bank believes that the measures were introduced too hastily and were too radical, and that they have to be abolished. Any anomalies detected in "individual market players" should instead be addressed with targeted and not systemic measures.

NLB says Banka Slovenije imposed the measures virtually overnight and triggered "an excessive drop in volume of loans and accessibility of loans by Slovenians within the strictly regulated and controlled system of commercial and savings banks, whereas there are no restrictions imposed on more expensive and more risky third loan providers".

The bank argues that the measures have already produced a radical effect with virtually total stop in growth in loan volume. What is more, the number of loans given out in the recent months has dropped dramatically.

The restrictions were introduced to protect the taxpayer, says the bank, adding, however, that Slovenian population is already among the least indebted in relevant global comparisons, while banks are highly liquid, which means that they are capable of absorbing any potential major shocks.

Moreover, Slovenia has the fresh experience of an extremely tough crisis, but in the 2009-2015 period there was no excessive increase in default among the population, the bank said.

Saying the measures were introduced overnight, the bank says the "legal unpredictability" makes it extremely hard to make business plans and evaluate companies.

The move by NLB comes a day after the Bank Association released data showing that the number of consumer loans had dropped by 60% compared to October and housing loans by 40%.

STA, 27 November 2019 - Abanka, Slovenia's third largest bank which was privatised in June, generated a net profit of EUR 42.5 million in the first nine months of 2019, a 20% year-on-year decrease. In the low interest rate environment, net interest income totalled EUR 45 million, which is on a par with last year's nine-month result.

Net interest income edged up 0.3% and interest income increased by 1.0%, while interest expenses grew by 7.3% or EUR 0.4 million nominally, show the business results released on Wednesday.

Net fee and commission income for the bank, which has been sold to the US fund Apollo, amounted to EUR 30.3 million, while operating expenses amounted to EUR 50.4 million.

On 30 September 2019, Abanka's total assets amounted to EUR 3,769.8 million, while its market share in terms of total assets stood at 9.3%.

"The bank has high liquidity and a strong capital base," the report says. On the reporting date, Abanka's total capital ratio stood at 23.5%.

Loans to non-bank customers totalled EUR 2.03 million at the end of September, up 4.7% or EUR 91.1 million compared to the end of 2018.

Loans increased as a result of loans to corporate customers and sole proprietors rising by 4.4% or EUR 46.3 million and those to retail customers by 4.1% or EUR 36.8 million, the bank wrote.

Deposits from non-bank customers amounted to EUR 3.02 million, an increase of 2.9% or EUR 85.9 million. Deposits from retail customers increased by 4.6% or EUR 95.6 million nominally and deposits from corporate customers and sole proprietors went down by 1.1% or EUR 9.7 million.

The Abanka group continued to actively reduce non-performing loans. These decreased by EUR 25.8 million, while the share of non-performing loans was down 1.0 percentage point to 3.6%.

Net impairment and provisions cancelled amounted to EUR 14.9 million, while in the same period of 2018 the figure stood at EUR 15.6 million. In the reporting period, the bank cancelled provisions amounting to EUR 11.1 million and impairment of EUR 3.8 million.

"The bank will continue with the optimisation of its operations, the accelerated development of digital channels and the digital work environment, while ensuring safe, stable and profitable operations," the report says.

Abanka, one of the banks bailed out in 2013 and 2014, was sold in June by the state to the Maribor-based NKBM bank, which had also been in state ownership before being sold to Apollo. The transaction, which entails the merger of the second and third largest banks in the country, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.