Bankers from as many as five countries want to invest in our financial market

(Photo: Ivana Vuksa)

Intention to invest in Serbia's banking sector has been expressed by Expobank from Letonia and Halk Bank from Turkey as well as the Royal Group from the United Arab Emirates. Halk Bank has filed a request for prior consent for the acquisition of stake in Cacanska Banka.

These are the current official data provided by our central bank, but the list of interested parties is constantly growing. France's Societe Generale and Russia's VTB Banka are increasingly mentioned in banking circles. At the moment, Turkey's Halk Bank tops the list of prospective buyers, but the problem is that this bank wants to have a wider network of offices, not only in Cacak and neighboring places, but primarily in Belgrade where it wants to open its headquarters. Cacanska Banka has only two offices in the capital city and insufficient space for head office, meaning it would have to buy additional space.

In these times of crisis, Cacanska Banka even managed to become a good buy, primarily owing to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that holds a 29.9 percent stake in it. Other important shareholders are the IFC with 19.88 percent and the state with 24.48 percent.

The bank's capital now totals 44.48 million euros, while its overall assets at the end of September 2013 amounted to EUR 294.4 million.

The bank headquartered in Cacak had 15,502 clients at the end of September 2013. It operates 24 offices in Serbia and has 385 employees. The value of Cacanska Banka shares on the Belgrade Stock Exchange is about RSD 12,000.