The Belgian banking group KBC and Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), in which KBC holds a 34 percent stake, cannot buy HVB Splitska Banka nor obtain an operating licence in Croatia as long as the issue of Ljubljanska Banka's debt to its Croatian clients is unsettled. This is a well-known position of the HNB of which KBC and NLB representatives have been aware for at least three years, Rohatinski said on Monday.
Expressing regret at the statement by KBC director Andre Bergen, Rohatinski said the statement was not in the spirit of talks conducted with KBC in the last several months.
"We cannot interpret the context of the statement and the way it was made in any other way but as blackmail. The HNB will not give in to such blackmail," Rohatinski told Hina.
"The HNB is not turning down KBC, it only does not want to negotiate with it any more. They know our condition and if they meet it, there will be no reason for the HNB not to give its consent," Rohatinski said.
He recalled that the dispute was about 160 million euros of foreign exchange savings of Croatian clients (plus interest) that needed to be transferred to Croatia. The dispute is not about the total amount of foreign exchange savings belonging to the Croatian clients of Ljubljanska Banka, he said.
Two-thirds of the overall savings have been transferred to Croatian banks and returned in the form of the public debt. That portion of the savings will be dealt with in a different way and it does not affect the HNB's position on NLB and KBC in any way, Rohatinski said.
KBC representatives have been told on several occasions that the problem of foreign exchange savings can be solved by returning the money to depositors by a date on which KBC signs a contract taking over HVB Splitska Banka at the latest.
Returning the money after that date is not acceptable, because there is a possibility that funds to be returned are collected in Croatia, Rohatinski said, adding that the savings in question had been drained from Croatia and had to be returned.
The HNB has been informed that there is a possibility for KBC to bid for the purchase of the Split bank with legal persons from Croatia, which the HNB does not oppose, but this will not change KBC's position regarding the payment of foreign exchange savings belonging to Croatian depositors, the HNB governor said.
He reiterated that the position on the savings would remain unchanged until the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg made a final decision on a lawsuit filed by Croatian depositors against NLB.
However, the HNB's offer of "a licence in exchange for savings" is in no way related to the ruling to be passed by the court nor is it a substitute for the ruling, Rohatinski said.
If the savings are returned before the ruling is passed, this would enable KBC and NLB to seek an operating licence in Croatia, he said.
Commenting on claims that KBC is a minority share holder in NLB, Rohatinski said it was true that the share was 34 percent, but that it was also true that the Slovene government held a slightly higher share, that the EBRD had a five percent share, and that the remaining 25 percent was held by legal persons from Slovenia.
KBC does not have direct obligations, but when it was buying its share in NLB it was aware of the situation regarding the foreign currency savings, which is evidenced by the fact that the contract on the purchase of shares includes a provision saying that obligations regarding the savings of Croatian depositors had to be met by the Slovene government, Rohatinski said.