Croatia – “Anonymous” hacks websites of two commercial banks; Deposit insurance agency carries out stealthy recapitalization of Croatia Banka; Central bank extends special minimum liquidity coefficient requirement through June 2013

On 20 December it was reported that one or more persons claiming to be “Anonymous” had hacked into the website of the commercial bank “Samoborska banka d.d.”, publishing on the bank’s website the “Anonymous” logo and the following message: “You have stolen from the people for long enough.  Soon other banks will fall.  We are Anonymous.  We are legion.  We do not forgive.  We do not forget.  Expect us.” (Dovoljno dugo ste krali od naroda.  Uskoro padaju i ostale banke.  Mi smo Anonymous. Mi smo legija. Mi ne praštamo. Mi ne zaboravljamo. Očekujte nas.)

Two days earlier the same message had been posted on the website of another Croatian bank, “Karlovačka banka d.d.”  Similar attacks have been mounted this year against a variety of major public websites in Croatia.

Sources:

Anonymousi hakirali i Samoborsku banku (2012-12-20 13:51)

Hrvatski Anonymousi napali prvu domaću banku: "Dovoljno dugo ste krali od naroda" (2012-12-18 09:04)

On 19 December the newssite Poslovni dnevnik revealed that official securities data indicate that the paid-in capital of the commercial bank “Croatia banka d.d.” had recently been boosted quietly from 274 mln HRK to 474 mln HRK.  (1 EUR = 7.534 HRK at time of writing.)  Because “Croatia banka” is 100% owned by the country’s deposit insurance agency – the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Bank Rehabilitation (Državna agencija za osiguranje štednih uloga i sanaciju banaka – DAB) – it is evident that the agency decided that the troubled bank required considerable additional capital.

Source:

DAB u tišini u Croatia banku ubrizgao 200 milijuna kuna (2012-12-20 13:31)

In other news, on 19 December the Croatian National Bank (Hrvatska narodna banka – HNB) published a decision entitled, “Decision on amendments to the Decision on liquidity risk management” (Odluka o izmjenama i dopunama Odluke o upravljanju likvidnosnim rizikom).  The Decision, passed on 11 December but published on the central bank’s website only on 19 December, extends the validity of two sections of the earlier “Decision on Liquidity Risk Management” – Art. 17 §4 and Art. 18 §3 – from 31 December 2012 through 30 June 2013.  In the earlier Decision, Art. 17 §4 regards the maintaining of a minimum liquidity coefficient (minimalni koeficijent likvidnosti) both for HRK and for all foreign currencies lumped together, but permits a derogation from the minimum for a period of up to seven calendar days during a reporting period, while Art. 18 §3 regards the reporting of actual liquidity coefficients and any derogations.

Sources:

Odluka o izmjenama i dopunama Odluke o upravljanju likvidnosnim rizikom (2012-12-19)

Odluka o upravljanju likvidnosnim rizikom (2010, 2011, 2012)

Mark Pleas

Eastern Europe Banking & Deposits Consultant

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