ZAGREB, June 6 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday forwarded to the parliament for discussion and adoption a package of bills regulating banking and securities markets.
ZAGREB, June 6 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday
forwarded to the parliament for discussion and adoption a package
of bills regulating banking and securities markets. #L#
One of the bills is a final bill on banks, under which the stock
capital required for the establishment of a bank amounts to 40
million kuna.
The bill will enable former savings banks, which by the end of last
year increased their stock capital to 20 million kuna and were
granted the consent of the Croatian National Bank (HNB), to
continue operating as banks.
This will give a chance to banks with smaller capital, Deputy
Finance Minister Damir Kustrak said.
The new law on banks enables the HNB to control legal persons
connected to a bank, as well as to supervise those business
transactions of banks and bank groups which could be aimed at
restricting market competition.
Under the bill, the HNB will be able to request the accumulation of
obligatory reserves for all banks and have the right to request
higher reserves for banks conducting risky transactions. The
amount of obligatory reserves would depend on the HNB's risk
assessment.
Explaining the introduction of the "asymmetric regulations",
Kustrak said that obligatory reserves were too high for banks with
cautious business policies and too low for those conducting risky
deals.
The bill incorporates some parliamentary proposals, including the
one which stipulates that banks must change their auditing firm
every four years. The same audit house would be able to carry out a
maximum of four consecutive audits in the same bank.
The government has bound the finance ministry to make a statement on
the compatibility of domestic legislation with the EU standards by
the end of the year. Thirteen articles of the law refer to relations
with banks from EU countries, but they will go into force once
Croatia is admitted to the EU.
The government today also formulated the final version of a bill on
savings and loan co-operatives, under which co-operatives would be
able to perform payment transactions on behalf of their clients, in
line with the contract signed with the business bank in which they
have an account.
The required amount of deposits for the establishment of a savings
and loan co-operative is 100,000 kuna, as is the case at present.
The co-operatives can perform exchange and payment transactions
for their clients, and interest can be collected on co-operative
deposits.
Another bill in the package is a bill on the securities market,
which includes a more active role of the Securities Commission.
Under the bill, the Commission will have the right to ban and
discontinue stock market activities or annul the regulations of
stock markets and the Central Deposit Agency. Under the same bill,
banks will be able to perform all operations involving securities,
which introduces the concept of the universal bank, Kustrak said.
The introduction of public stock companies promises a livelier
trade in stocks, bonds and other securities, he added.
The parliament was also sent the final text of a bill on the take-
over of public joint stock companies, which will legalise the
obligation to announce tenders for the purchase of more than 25
percent of shares.
(hina) rml sb