At the sitting held on 10 September, the Finance Committee members considered the following petitions forwarded to the Committee: Overview of the situation and problems in the business dealings of Metals Bank s.c. Novi Sad; Problems regarding the old foreign currency savings in the former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia; Petition of a group of citizens against the persons responsible for Elita International Company Belgrade and Initiative of Kosovo-Metohija Bank s.c. Zvecan for the submission of a proposal to amend and modify the Public Debt Law.

The sitting was chaired by Zoran Krasic, Committee Chairman, and attended by Mira Eric-Jovic, Vice-Governor, Dusan Lalic, Director General and Djordje Jevtic, head of the Bank Supervision Department on the behalf of the National Bank of Serbia; Zorica Dunovic, Assistant Minister of Finance; Milorad Dzambic, Director of the Deposit Insurance Agency; Milko Stimac, Securities Commission President and representatives of the submitters of the petitions.

Ananije Pavicevic, mandator of the Metals Bank s.c. Novi Sad shareholders briefed the Committee members on the situation and problems in the bank’s operation, stating that the bank’s emergency administration’s reports are aimed at a forcible proprietary transformation of the bank. He said that from its foundation to the introduction of provisional measures the bank had been liquid, realised a business growth and was the first bank on the Belgrade Exchange A list. Since the introduction of provisional measures by the NBS, the bank is being transformed into a state owned bank by enabling the AP Vojvodina Executive Council to take it over. On the other hand, NBS Vice-Governor Mira Eric-Jovic stressed that these estimates are superficial and that the NBS had operated under the law. She stated that in 2008 Metals Bank fell into non-liquidity and by the end of the same year had less then 1% of statutory reserves in its account. NBS introduced provisional measures, supervision and enabled an increase in the bank’s liquidity. The bank was recapitalised, made liquid and its deterioration was prevented. At that moment, AP Vojvodina Executive Council was the only one interested in taking it over and the Securities Commission acted in line with relevant regulations.

In a long discussion on the petition, the Committee members deemed that they lack sufficient information to make a conclusion which would solve the problem. Some were of the opinion that the issue of proprietary transformation is a policy issue, that the small shareholders were deceived by the invitation to buy the bank’s shares the value of which depreciated tenfold, and that the case is connected with the realisation of AP Vojvodina development bank concept. The Committee members agreed to invite all relevant authorities to urgently consider the case of Metals Bank s.c. Novi Sad within their purview.

Considering Verica Blanusa’s petition regarding the regulation of the old foreign currency savings in the former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia, the Committee members were briefed on the official letters of the Ministry of Finance and National Bank of Serbia. The old foreign currency savings on the territory of former SFRY republics shall be regulated after the succession in the manner stipulated by the Agreement.

In the continuation, the Committee members were briefed on the petition of a group of citizens against the persons responsible for Elita International Company Belgrade, who had damaged the citizens by about 40 million EUR through transactions similar to banking operations. In the discussion on the petition, NBS representatives stressed that the abovementioned organisation did not have a work permit issued by the NBS. The Committee members decided to invite the Ministry of Finance to submit information to the Committee on whether there had been any supervision of the organisation, whether it was noticed that they deal in transactions similar to banking operations for which they had no permit and what the Ministry had done regarding the issue. It was also concluded to forward an official letter to the Prosecutor’s Office requesting an urgent examination of the case.

The representatives of Kosovo-Metohija Bank presented the essence of their initiative to amend and modify the Public Debt Law. They believe that expanding the notion of public debt would enable the bank to continue its operation on the territory of Kosovo-Metohija and improve its transactions, considering that the bank cannot recover its debts on the territory of Kosovo-Metohija. The Committee members agreed that the bank’s problem would not be solved by a modification of the law and appealed to the Ministry of Finance and the Deposit Insurance Agency to come up with a solution for the bank’s operations as soon as possible and inform the Finance Committee about it.