The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has definitively revoked the licence of Raj Bank

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has definitively revoked the licence of Raj Bank, whose capital is held by seven companies and consultancies from Bulgaria, linked to economic group TIM. Under local legislation the Belgrade company court is obliged to open a liquidation procedure within three days. On Monday the National Bank announced its decision for delicensing the bank as its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk remains high, and the deterioration of profitability jeopardizes its operations. The key reason for shutting down the bank is its failure to raise it capital to the minimum required level of EUR 10 M, the NBS said. It is absurd to claim that the decision of the National Bank demonstrates Serbia's unwillingness to attract foreign investments, an official from NBS press office commented, as quoted by 24 Hours Daily. In September the National Bank ordered the Raj Bank to remove established irregularities by November 30 of the current year. In the course of the new supervision, however, the National Bank of Serbia established that the Raj Bank has not fulfilled all orders from the above decision and that it has failed to improve its liquidity and profitability. To be more specific, this means that the bank incorrectly classified its receivables, not making sufficient provisions for risk-bearing receivables, reads a statement of the National Bank on the its web site. Data about the bank shows that Finance Consulting, owner of 100% of the Central Cooperative Bank capital, is the major shareholder with 15.01% stake. The other shareholders include Slunchevi luchi trade, Sofia (10.77%), Ital Commerce, Sofia (7.23%), IT Creation, Sofia (6.17%), Bulagrohim, Sofia (5.75%) and Tsitisime Trade, Sofia (5.75%) and Multiex, Sofia (5.75 %). The sole local shareholder is Udarnik Kommerc company from the town of Pec, Kosovo, which holds 6.2% stake.