Serbia’s central bank fired the management of Agrobanka AD and placed it under receivership after inspectors discovered that “capital the bank has does not match the risk” it has assumed with its business.
The decision was made after the central bank completed an investigation into Agrobanka, which still has a “satisfying degree of liquidity, above the legally set minimum,” and which continues to operate, the Belgrade-based National Bank of Serbia said in a statement on its website today.
Agrobanka, 20 percent owned by the state, has a market share of less than 3 percent and ranks 12th among 33 banks operating in the Balkan country. Its executive board chairman, Dusan Antonic, spoke on Dec. 22 of plans to add as much as 100 million euros ($129 million) to boost capital next year, while local media reported Bank of East Asia Ltd. may be interested in Agrobanka.
The bank posted a loss this year of 2.27 billion dinars ($28 million) at the end of September, after full-year profit of 1.16 billion dinars in 2010, according to the central bank. Its shares fell 3.4 percent to 3,405 dinars on the Belgrade Stock Exchange today.
Source businessweek.com
