Igor Kim preparing offer for purchase of Marfin Bank Serbia

Igor Vladimirovich Kim, a Russian businessmen close to Vladimir Putin, intends to buy Marfin Bank in Serbia. Blic writes that Kim has prepared an offer which should arrive at the National Bank of Serbia any day now. It's interesting that he has chosen Marfin Bank, as the bank's finances are shaky.

– This is an ideal purchase for Kim. This is a bank which needs to be sold in order to be saved. In addition to him, there's another interested party – says the newspaper's source.

The problems the bank is facing at the moment leave a lot of room for misconduct, which Kim is well aware of.

The Cypriot central of Greece's Marfin Bank has had to declare bankruptcy at the request of the European Commission in order to approve a loan to save the Greek economy. It's not certain who the real owner of Marfin Bank in Serbia is, and there have been numerous speculations in the media.

Marfin Bank has little impact on Serbia's financial market, and it is currently operating with losses. Besides, the bank has approved a loan nearly six times larger than it is worth itself. As stated on the NBS website, Marfin has approved RSD 12.5 billion worth of loans to clients, and its total assets have been estimated at RSD 2.8 billion.

Marfin Bank's clients are predominantly small and medium enterprises, which means that Kim will have to make numerous changes if he intends to conduct his business the way he does in other states.

As Blic has already written, Kim's banks don't make corporate and retail loans. Instead, they only trade in securities. This is why it's being speculated that his intentions are not entirely honest and that he intends to launder money through his banks.

Marfin Bank owns about 1% of the local market. It used to be known for its attractive interest rates in the period it started operating in Serbia.

As Blic learns, Kim used to be interested in Privredna Banka Beograd as well. The National Bank found it strange that he was ready to put a lot of money into a bank which was worth practically nothing, had debts and in which nobody else was interested. The NBS revoked the bank's license in October 2013.

Adriatic Bank a.d. Beograd

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

Privredna banka a.d. Beograd

Marfin Bank

Igor Vladimirovich Kim

Vladimir Putin

NBS

Marfin Bank purchase

European Commission

Marfin Bank operations

trading in securities

money laundering