On 25 June the Sarajevo-based
commercial bank Postbank BH (Postbank BH Poštanska banka Bosne i Hercegovine
d.d. Sarajevo), whose banking license had been revoked five days earlier on
20 June, issued a public announcement to all of the bank’s creditors, including
its depositors. The announcement
explained that each creditor has 60 days from the date of publication to
present to the bank’s liquidation administrator evidence of his or her legal
claim on the bank and the amount of that claim.
Because the bank was not a member of the Deposit Insurance Agency of Bosnia and
Herzegovina 1 January 2002 , in continuance of an earlier peg of the BAM to the
Deutsche Mark at BAM 1 = DEM 1.)
Postbank’s banking
license was revoked on 20 June by the Banking Agency of the Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBA – Агенција
за банкарство Федерације Босне и Херцеговине) because the bank’s equity had
for a considerable time been below the statutory limit, and repeated attempts
to find parties able to recapitalize or purchase the bank had met with no
success. The bank had been in
provisional administration since 5 October 2010 , and the banking
agency’s revocation of the license on 20 June was carried out at the recommendation
of the bank’s provisional administrator for the bank, Ćamil Klepo. With the revocation of the license the term
of the provisional administrator came to an end, and the banking agency
appointed a liquidator for the bank in the person of Mr. Hazim Škapur.
The bank was
founded in Sarajevo Herzegovina 10 April 2003 the FBA, acting on a request
from the Ministry of Finance and a decision by the government of FBiH, placed
the bank under provisional administration.
After a successful
recapitalization of BAM 20,820,000 at the end of 2006, the FBA cancelled the
provisional administration on 30 June 2007 and the bank began
to operate as a joint stock company. In
November-December 2008 the shareholder capital was increased by an additional BAM
10,000,000 to BAM 28,442,800 through the issue of 100,000 ordinary shares at a
price of BAM 100 each.
Yet the bank
continued to rack up losses, so its shareholder equity soon fell once again
below the legal minimum, and on 5 October 2010 the FBA appointed a
provisional administrator for the second time.
One of the first acts of the administrator was to freeze all deposits of
greater than BAM 3,500 (€ 1,790).
Annual financial results for
Postbank BH,
2006-2012 (in BAM)
Year
|
Net profit/loss
|
2012
|
-1,404,000
|
2011
|
-4,393,000
|
2010
|
-4,364,000
|
2009
|
-3,151,000
|
2008
|
-5,529,000
|
2007
|
-4,110,000
|
2006
|
-893,000
|
On 15 February 2011 the then-provisional
administrator, Stjepan Jovičić, published a call for bids for recapitalization
of the bank through a closed placement of shares, inviting interested investors
to submit, within 15 days, bids of at least BAM 13,000,000. In the evaluation of the bids a weight of 80%
was to be assigned to the amount of the recapitalization offered by the investor,
and a weight of 20% to the content of a 3-year business plan for the bank to be
submitted by the investor.
In mid-March 2011
the provisional administrator revealed to the press that serious bids had been
received from two parties: 1) Framingham Asset Management Inc., a firm in the British Virgin
Islands affiliated with FAM Funds of Switzerland, and 2) Balkan Investment Bank
a.d., a bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by Russian investor Vladimir
Romanov, owner of Lithuania’s commercial bank Ūkio Bankas (whose banking
license would end up being revoked on 12 February 2013 by the Lithuanian
central bank, as discussed earlier in this column).
This attempt to
find investors failed, however, and the provisional administrator blamed the
failure on uncertainty regarding the final outcome of several lawsuits that
present or former employees had filed against the bank for unpaid wages and
retirement benefits. Although initial court
rulings had found in favor of the employees, the bank had filed appeals, yet
the sum total of such employee claims, if all appeals failed, would more than
wipe out the little shareholder equity remaining in the bank.
On 21 August 2012 the provisional administration
– Stjepan Jovičić having in the meantime been replaced as provisional
administrator by Ćamil Klepo – published a new and broader invitation to
investors. The new invitation offered
three possibilities: 1) recapitalization of the bank with at least BAM
13,000,000 of funds, 2) merger of the bank with some other bank already
operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and
Herzegovina
On 28 November 2012 the provisional administrator issued a
decision accepting FAM Funds as the first-ranked candidate, and on 17 January 2013 FAM Funds applied to the FBA
for authorization to acquire a 66.7% stake in the bank. The FBA requested from FAM Funds additional
documentation from regulators in Switzerland and the Seychelles, and the bank’s
annual report for 2012, completed on 29 May 2013, wrote that the administrator
“expects that upon submission of the requested documentation the Banking Agency
of FBiH will approve the request of FAM Funds, which would lead to
implementation of the planned recapitalisation process of the Bank.” It was not to be, as the press release issued
by the FBA on 20 June 2013 that announced the
revoking of the bank’s license noted that FAM Funds “did not prove to fulfill
the prescribed legal conditions for obtaining an approval for gaining a
significant ownership interest in the Bank.”
According to the
bank’s annual report for 2012, which was completed on 29 May 2013 , the bank at end-2012 had
total assets (ukupno imovina) of BAM 50,025,000 (€ 25.6 mln), total
loans of BAM 21,910,000, and total deposits of BAM 34,046,000. Of the total deposits of BAM 34,046,000, no
less than BAM 15,144,000 (44.5%) were in deposits related to the electrical
utility JP Elektroprivreda d.d. Sarajevo Sarajevo
As of 31 December 2012 the bank had branches in Sarajevo Tuzla Ljubljana
Branka Remškar,
Director of
Poteza Podjetniške Finance
Principal sources:
FBA notice to creditors of Postbank: Poziv povjeriocima
za prijavu potraživanja od Postbanke BH Poštanske banke Bosne i Hercegovine
d.d. Sarajevo u likvidaciji (2013-06-24)
FBA notice of license revocation: Ukinuta dozvola za
rad Postbanci BH Poštanskoj banci d.d. Sarajevo (2013-06-20)
Call for bids for recapitalization, acquisition or
merger, or sales of assets with a purchase obligation – Bosnian: Javni poziv
(2012-08-21)
Call for bids for recapitalization, acquisition or
merger, or sales of assets with a purchase obligation – English: Public Invitation
(2012-08-21)
Građanima
blokiran novac koji su godinama štedjeli (2011-03-14), p. 5
Three
investors interested in Postbank BH (2011-03-09)
Call for recapitalization bids – Bosnian: Javni poziv
(2011-02-15)
Call for recapitalization bids – English: Public Announcement
(2011-02-15)
FBA notice of initiation of provisional
administration: Saopštenje
za javnost: Uvedena privremena uprava u Postbank BH Poštansku banku BiH d.d.
Sarajevo (2010-10-05)
Annual reports of Postbank BH, 2007-2012: Godišnji
finansijski izvještaji
