The Serbian government is being criticized for its moves to sell off Komercijalna Banka to a Slovenian bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB). Negotiations appear to have been completed, however, with anonymous sources claiming that the deal could be signed by the end of the week. NLB, which is Slovenia’s biggest bank (and partially state-owned) would be taking just over 83 percent of Serbia’s number two lender. Last year, the Serbian bank bought out shares in KB from the EBRD and from the International Finance Corporation giving it control of 83 percent of the shares in the bank. Opponents of the deal complain that the government is behaving traitorously in selling off national assets to foreign companies.
