NBS: Nikada nismo držali devizne rezerve u Prvoj banci Abu Dabija (ENGLISH)

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Izuzetak je napravljen 2008. godine sa Moskovskom bankom i onda šest godina nije niko dobio licencu NBS sve dok Srbija i Ujedinjeni Arapski Emirati nisu postali strateški partneri i zaključili međudržavni sporazum.

Ekspresno, krajem 2014. godine licencu je dobila Mirabanka, čiji je vlasnik izvesna kompanija Duingraaf Financial Investments B.V., Amsterdam iz Holandije.

Vlasnik ove kompanije kako se medijima navodilo je Rojal group, konglomerat od 60 velikih i srednjih preduzeća sa sedištem u Abu Dabiju čiji predsednik je jedan od najmoćnijih ljudi u Emiratima, šeik Tahnun bin Zajed al Nahjan (Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan). Brat defakto prvog čoveka UAE krunisanog princa Mohameda Bin Zajeda (Mohammed Bin Zayed) ima važnu ulogu u funkcionisanju Emirata.

Ne samo što je savetnik za nacionalnu bezbednost, već se nalazi i na čelu najvećih poslovnih konglomerata ove male zalivske države, pomenute Rojal grupe i International holdinga u čijem sastavu je druga najveća kompanija po tržišnoj kapitalizaciji.

On je na čelu i investicionog Razvojnog fonda Abu Dabija, kod koga se Srbija zadužila za izgradnju sistema za navodnjavanje, a taj dug je nedavno konvertovala iz dirhama u evre na međunaordnom tržištu.

Pored toga on se nalazi i na čelu Prve banke Abu Dabija (First Abu Dhabi Bank).

U vreme kada je osnovana Mirabank u Beogradu, u medijima je vrvelo od megalomanskih projekata u kojima je trebalo da učestvuju ili da ih finansiraju arapski partneri.

Tako je 2014. godine i pre nego što je dala dozvolu za rad ovoj banci, guvernerka Jorgovanka Tabaković najavila da ova banka planira da investira pet milijardi dolara u Srbiji u roku od tri godine.

Očigledno da je plan bio da preko ove banke budu plasirana arapska sredstva u te projekte.

I na portalu same banke navode se najveći projekti kao što su ulaganja Al Rafaveda i Al Dahre u poljoprivredu, Beograd na vodi, Etihada u Er Srbiju, pa čak i investicija Mubadale u fabriku čipova.

„Ta banka ima velika očekivanja od poslovanja u Srbiji, a naša su realna, pomoći ćemo joj da se prilagodi poslovanju u Srbiji i da koristi od njenog dolaska ima srpska privreda“, rekla je guvernerka NBS.

Sedam godina kasnije aktiva ove banke prešla je šest milijardi, ali dinara, ili oko 100 puta manje od planiranog.

Na kraju prošle godine ukupna aktiva banke iznosila je 6,25 milijardi dinara ili oko 52 miliona evra.

Ako je ova banka trebalo da bude instrument za investicije iz UAE, onda struktura te aktive ne govori baš najbolje o tim investicijama.

Naime, 7,75 miliona evra banka je na kraju prošle godine držala kod Narodne banke Srbije.

Oko 15 miliona evra drži u hartijama od vrednosti, a oko 12 miliona evra kod drugih banaka i finansijskih institucija. Svega oko 17 miliona evra je plasirano u kredite.

Možda su sve ove okolnosti dovele i do objava u domaćim medijima sa tezom da je Narodna banka Srbije od 2013. godine počela da prebacuje devizne rezerve u FGB banku iz koje je nastala Prva banka Abu Dabija.

Prema tim tvrdnjama, taj novac na koji se inače isplaćuje minimalna kamata je iskorišten za kupovinu hartija od vrednosti Republike Srbije sa mnogo većim prinosom i to preko Mirabanke. Tada se prinos na državne hartije kretao oko 4,5 odsto u zavisnosti od ročnosti.

Međutim, u odgovoru Danasu na zahtev po osnovu zakona o informacijama od javnog značaja, Narodna banka Srbije decidno tvrdi da „ne drži, niti je ikada ranije držala bilo koji deo deviznih rezervi kod First Bank of Abu Dhabi, kao ni kod First Gulf Bank, niti je to internom regulativom dozvoljeno. Takođe, devizne rezerve NBS apsolutno nisu uložene u osnivanje Mirabank u Srbiji, odnosno tako nešto je nemoguće usled same prirode deviznih rezervi, načina upravljanja njima i strogo uspostavljenih kontrolnih mehanizama“.

Dalje, u odgovoru NBS navodi se da prema Zakonu o Narodnoj banci Srbije, „NBS odlučuje o formiranju i korišćenju deviznih rezervi, kao i o upravljanju i raspolaganju deviznim rezervama, u skladu s monetarnom i deviznom politikom i Smernicama za upravljanje deviznim rezervama – na način kojim se doprinosi nesmetanom ispunjavanju obaveza Republike Srbije prema inostranstvu“.

Devizne rezerve NBS čine potraživanja NBS u devizama na njenim računima u inostranstvu, hartije od vrednosti, zlato, efektivni strani novac i specijalna prava vučenja i rezervna pozicija kod Međunarodnog monetarnog fonda.

Principi kojih se NBS drži prilikom upravljanja deviznih rezervii kako se navodi u odgovoru Narodne banke su likvidnost i sigurnost, što znači ulaganje u najkvalitetnije hartije od vrednosti i plasiranjem sredstava kod finansijskih institucija kao što su centralne banke, međunarodne finansijske institucije i prvoklasne strane komercijalne banke.

„Radi upravljanja kreditnim rizikom, NBS je odredila visoke kriterijume za investiranje u banke čiji je minimalni kombinovani kreditni rejting AA- (određen prema rejting agencijama S&P, Moody’s i Fitch). Pored ovako postavljenih kriterijuma, u razmatranje se uzimaju i finansijski pokazatelji iz bilansa banaka, pokazatelji kreditnog rizika (kao što je npr. CDS spred), kao i drugi kvalitativni kriterijumi. Gore navedene banke ne ispunjavaju sve kriterijume neophodne da bi bilo moguće plasiranje sredstava deviznih rezervi kod njih“, navode u NBS.

Sadržaj je rezultat istraživanja sprovedenog u okviru projekta „Transparentnost učešća države u stranim investicionim projektima“. Stavovi izneti u tekstu su stavovi autora i ne izražavaju nužno stavove donatora.

ENGLISH VERSION

NBS: We Have Never Kept Foreign Exchange Reserves in the First Bank of Abu Dhabi

For a long time, the only way for a foreign bank to enter the Serbian banking system was to take over some of the domestic banks, due to the state’s policy to sell domestic banking institutions and only scarcely grant licenses to first-class international banks.

An exception was made in 2008 with the Bank of Moscow, and then no one received an NBS license for six years, until Serbia and the United Arab Emirates became strategic partners and signed the interstate agreement.

Then, at the end of 2014, the Mirabank, whose formal owner was a certain company Duingraaf Financial Investments BV, from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, received an express license.

The owner of this company, as the media reported, was the UAE Royal Group, a conglomerate of 60 large and medium-sized companies based in Abu Dhabi, whose president is one of the most powerful people in the Emirates, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is brother of the de facto first man of the UAE, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed, and has an important role to play in the functioning of the Emirates.

Not only is he the National Security Advisor, but he also heads the largest business conglomerates of this small Gulf state, the aforementioned Royal Group and the International Holding, which includes the second largest company by market capitalization.

He is also the head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Development Fund that Serbia took the loan from for the construction of an irrigation system, which has been recently converted from dirhams to euros on the international market. Tahnoon bin Zayed is also the head of the First Abu Dhabi Bank.

At the time the Mirabank was founded in Belgrade, the media was swamped by the announcements about megalomaniac projects the UAE partners were supposed to participate in or finance them.

Thus, in 2014, even before she granted the license to this bank, the NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković had announced that the bank planned to invest five billion dollars in Serbia within three years.

It was obvious that the plan was that the UAE would place the funds in their projects through this bank. The bank’s portal also lists the biggest projects, such as the investments by Al Rafawed and Al Dahra in agriculture, the Belgrade Waterfront, Etihad in Air Serbia, and even Mubadala’s investments in the computer chip factory.

„This bank has high expectations from doing business in Serbia, and ours are realistic, we will help the bank to adjust to doing business in Serbia so that the Serbian economy can also benefit from its arrival,“ the NBS governor said.

Seven years later, the assets of this bank have exceeded six billion – but in Serbian dinars and not in US dollars – or about 100 times less than planned.

At the end of last year, the total assets of this bank amounted to 6.25 billion dinars or about 52 million euros.

If this bank was supposed to be an instrument for investments from the UAE, then the structure of those assets does not speak favorably about these investments.

Namely, at the end of last year, the bank kept 7.75 million euros with the National Bank of Serbia. About 15 million euros were held in securities, and about 12 million euros in other banks and financial institutions. Only about 17 million euros have been placed in loans.

Perhaps all these circumstances have led to the reports in the domestic media with the thesis that, since 2013, the National Bank of Serbia has been transferring foreign exchange reserves to the First Gulf Bank, from which the First Bank of Abu Dhabi emerged.

According to these reports, the money on which the minimum interest is normally paid was used through the Mirabank for the purchase of securities of the Republic of Serbia with a much higher yield. At that time, the yield on government securities was around 4.5 percent, depending on the maturity.

However, in response to the Danas’ request made in line with the provisions of the Law on Access to Information of Public Importance, the National Bank of Serbia strongly states that it „does not hold or has ever held any part of the national foreign exchange reserves with First Bank of Abu Dhabi, nor with First Gulf Bank”, adding that this would not be allowed by internal regulations.

Also, “the foreign exchange reserves of the NBS were absolutely not invested in the establishment of Mirabank in Serbia, as something like that would be impossible due to the very nature of foreign exchange reserves, the way they are managed and strictly established control mechanisms.”

Furthermore, the NBS response states that, as provided by the Law on the National Bank of Serbia, “the NBS decides on the formation and use of foreign exchange reserves, as well as the management and disposal of foreign exchange reserves, in accordance with monetary and foreign exchange policy and Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Reserves Management, in a way that contributes to the unhindered fulfillment of the obligations of the Republic of Serbia abroad“.

The NBS’s foreign exchange reserves comprise the NBS’s foreign currency claims on its foreign accounts, securities, gold, effective foreign currency and special drawing rights, and the reserve position with the International Monetary Fund.

The principles that the NBS adheres to when managing foreign exchange reserves, as stated in the National Bank’s response, are liquidity and security, which means investing in the highest quality securities and placing funds with financial institutions such as central banks, international financial institutions and first-class foreign commercial banks.

„In order to manage credit risk, the NBS has set high criteria for investing in banks whose minimum combined credit rating is AA- (determined by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch). In addition to the criteria set in this way, financial indicators from banks’ balance sheets, credit risk indicators (such as CDS spread), as well as other qualitative criteria are also taken into account. The above-mentioned banks do not meet all the criteria necessary for the placement of foreign exchange reserves with them „, the NBS states.

The content is the result of the research carried out within the project „Transparency of State Participation in Foreign Investment Projects“. The views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the donor.