Global Trade Alert

On 5 September 2013, the Slovenian authorities informed the EU about their intention to provide state guarantees to the bank Probanka. The state guarantees are meant to stabilise the liquidity of the bank. The liquidity has been deteriorated by significant deposit withdrawals in August 2013. The liquidity ratio fell below the required level.
 

The beneficiary provides universal banking services (collecting deposits, issuing loans and guarantees, investment banking services, payment system services, fund management services) with EUR 973 million in total assets. Slovenia stabilises the bank with state guarantees of max. EUR 490 million. The expected duration is one year but can be extended to a maximum of 3 years.
 

The actions taken by the Slovenian authorities are in line with the Communication from the Commission on the application of State aid rules to support measures in favor of banks in the context of the financial crisis, from 1 August 2013, (para. 8 letter from the EC to Slovenia, Brussels 6 September 2013).
 

The EC argued that: 'The Measure confers an advantage on the beneficiary of the aid, the Bank. In particular, the measures allows the Bank stabilize the liability side of its balance sheet. In the circumstances in which the Bank finds itself, no private operator acting on the basis of market logic would give liquidity support to the Bank. Moreover, the pricing formula applicable to the guarantees fall below the levels which the Bank could expect to pay even if it was able to identify a potential private guarantor. Since the Measure is available only to the Bank, the Measure confers a selective advantage on it' (para. 16 letter from the EC to Slovenia, Brussels 6 September 2013).
 

Finally, the EC concluded that: 'the Measure is also likely to affect trade between Member States as the Bank competes on the Slovenian market, where some of the Bank's competitors are subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks.' (para. 18 letter from the EC to Slovenia, Brussels 6 September 2013)
 

The support scheme described in the measure also applies to another bank, namely: Factor Banka (related measures).
 
Update: Winding down plan SA.37642
 
On 5 November 2013, Slovenia notified an orderly winding down plan. The plan foresees a complete liquidatation by 31 December 2016. The measure is therefore considered to expire at the date of final liquidation.
 
A state measure in the GTA database is assessed solely in terms of the extent to which its implementation affects the extent of discrimination against foreign commercial interests. On this metric, the state aid proposed here is discriminatory