NBS awaits request from Royal Bank

The National Bank of Serbia has not yet received an official request from Abu Dhabi's Royal Bank for a permit to operate in Serbia, people at the NBS told the Blic daily. Unofficially, this bank is supposed to apply for a license this month and start operations in the Serbian market in 2014.

Its primary goal would be to track the operations of UAE companies in Serbia. Although it has been speculated that it will focus on so-called sharia banking, meaning that it will be lending money without interest, Royal Bank is a conservative bank that operates similarly to European banks.