Erste Group wants to buy Hypo Bank in Serbia

Austria's Erste Group has submitted a letter of intent for the purchase of Hypo Alpe Adria Bank in Serbia and now waits for a response from the Austrian government, Chairman of the Erste Group Executive Board Andreas Treichl said today in Belgrade.

- If the response from the Austrian bank is negative or our bid unacceptable, we have a backup plan for Erste Bank's expansion in Serbia - Treichl said in a talk with the press.

He specified that the backup plan was to focus on the "organic growth" of Erste Bank Serbia, that is, business expansion, primarily in retail services.

- The year 2012 was successful for Erste Bank Serbia - Treichl assessed and added that the Erste Group considered Serbia an important market with a growth potential.

Slavko Caric, chairman of the Erste Bank Serbia Executive Board, said that that bank was not interested in taking over the Development Bank of Vojvodina (RBV).

- We were ready to compete for deposits in RBV, but we decided not to bid when the Serbian government changed its plan and announced that it would offer RBV offices in a package with the deposits - said Caric.

In his opinion, cooperation between the banking sector in Serbia and the National Bank of Serbia has been excellent ever since Jorgovanka Tabakovic was named the governor.