Banks

Ljubljana – Having completed the takeover of Serbian bank Komercijalna Banka, Slovenia’s largest bank, NLB, will start eyeing potential new acquisition opportunities next year with CEO Blaž Brodnjak offering Albania as one potential new market.

Ljubljana – NLB, Slovenia’s largest banking group, reported a net profit of EUR 64.6 million for the first quarter of the year, about 3.5-fold the figure posted in the same period a year ago (EUR 18.3 million).

Turkey's capital markets watchdog imposed fines totaling 26.4 million Turkish liras ($3.25 million) on 10 foreign financial firms for unlawful short-selling transactions.

According to a Capital Markets Board (SPK) statement, Credit Suisse Securities Europe Limited was fined $960,500, Barclays Capital Securities Limited $867,600 and Merrill Lynch BofA International was fine $778,300.


Ljubljana – The Slovenian Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, formerly Banka Koper, last year generated EUR 12.8 million in net profit, which is 46% less than the year before. Revenue was down by 14.7% to EUR 64.6 million, the bank owned by the Italian Intesa San Paolo group said on Monday.

The Turkish Central Bank's newly appointed governor met on March 24 with the general managers of banks and discussed a range of issues including inflation, monetary policy, global developments and the demands of the banking sector.

The Turkish Central Bank's reserves amounted to $95.7 billion at the end of January 2020, the bank announced on Feb. 26. 

Ljubljana – Business chambers have called on the government to extent the scheme under which they may request a deferral of loan payments, an appeal that came just after the central bank said this measure had “served its purpose” and was not sustainable in the long term.

The Turkish presidency is setting up an office to deal with the growing sector of participation finance, according to an official notice published on Feb. 8.

The department within the Presidential Finance Office will focus on raising awareness of participation finance and developing strategies in the field, said a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.

The Turkish Central Bank has decided to establish three new divisions in a bid to adapt its organizational structure to its priorities, according to a statement issued by officials on Feb. 4. 

Under its Structural Economic Research Department, the bank will form a division in charge of analyzing developments in the food and agricultural product markets.

A series of attacks targeting banks across Attica took place early on Monday morning.

At 2.38 a.m. two ATMs and the facade of a Piraeus Bank branch in Agios Dimitrios were damaged by vandals.

That was followed at 3.39 a.m. by an arson attack on an ATM at the Eurobank branch in Galatsi.