The report covers developments in Serbia’s banking sector over the period March 1, 2014 – April 10, 2015. It includes, among others, discussion of sector-level indicators, market news, as well as detailed financial information for the three largest banks - Banca Intesa Beograd, Komercijalna Banka Beograd and Unicredit Bank Srbija.

Serbia’s central bank said on December 16 it has licensed for operations newly established Mirabank Belgrade, owned by Abu Dhabi-based Royal Group, paving the way for the first greenfield investment on the country’s banking market in the past six years.

There was significant M&A activity in Serbia’s banking sector. In December, global private equity firm Advent International and the EBRD have agreed to acquire the Balkan banking network of Austrian nationalised lender Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International. In January, state-controlled Telekom Srbija has acquired a majority stake in local lender Dunav Banka. In March, Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank signed a deal to acquire 76.7% of Serbian peer Cacanska Banka for €10.1mn.

In September, Telenor launched mobile banking in Serbia.

Banks covered in the report include, among others, Banca Intesa Beograd, Komercijalna banka Beograd, Unicredit Bank Srbija, Raiffeisen banka Beograd, Societe Generale banka Srbija, AIK banka Nis, Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank Beograd, Banka Postanska stedionica Beograd, Cacanska banka Cacak, NLB banka Beograd, Srpska banka Beograd, Dunav banka Beograd, Telenor banka Beograd, and Mirabank Belgrade.

Key points:
• Total gross assets of Serbia’s commercial banking sector increased by 5.1% to RSD3.31 trillion (€27.4bn) at end-2014
• Total loans to companies (excluding public enterprises) and households increased by a nominal 0.9% to RSD1.7 trillion at end-2014
• Total corporate and household deposits increased by 9.6% to RSD1.61 trillion at end-2014
• The ratio of NPLs in total loans (gross principle) was 22.5% in November
• The capital adequacy ratio of Serbia’s banking sector was 19.4% in November