The transaction of the merger is expected to take place in October and by then the two banks will ask consent from regulatory bodies competent for the main transaction.
Requests which might be sent to other regulatory bodies, including the relevant body in Croatia, given that Unicredito is the majority owner of Zagrebacka Banka and the HVB of HVB Splitska Banka, can ensue only after the establishment of the new bank and new facts on the market, Lukovic told a news conference.
Asked whether the merger could result in the sale of one of the two Croatian banks or in their merger, Lukovic said that all of this would depend on developments on the market in October.
He predicted that other 'players' on the European banking market would have to respond to this move given that with the planned merger of Unicredito and the HVB, banks which they owned in central and eastern Europe would have total assets of 70 billion euros, which he said was two times higher than other competitors.
Lukovic declined to comment on possible lay-offs in the said two Croatian banks, explaining that it was too early to say what would happen. although he admitted that some measures of rationalisation would be inevitable.
In case ZABA and HVB Splitska bank merge, this group would account for 34.8 percent of the Croatian banking market according to the volume of their joint assets which would come to more than 79 billion kuna. This calculation is made on the basis of preliminary figures issued by the Croatian National Bank.
Zagrebacka Banka is a leading bank in Croatia with the assets of 57.4 billion kuna at the end of March this year. This bank accounted for over a quarter of total assets of all the banks in the country.
The HVB Splitska Banka had assets of 21.8 billion kuna, namely a 9.58-percent share.