RS Banking Agency Again Refused to Provide Information on Bobar Banka

The Banking Agency of Republika Srpska refused to provide Transparency International BiH with the Final Report on the progress and conclusion of the temporary administration proceedings for Bobar Banka a.d. Bijeljina, with an explanation of the implemented measures of the temporary administration procedure, which, according to the Law on Banks of RS, the temporary administrator is obliged to compile and submit to the Agency immediately upon the conclusion of the temporary administration, reports the Patria News Agency. 

TI BiH has been insisting on the disclosure of the Final Report since the conclusion of the temporary administration proceedings. The Agency first informed TI BiH on January 19, 2015, that the disputed Report was not ready, even though the temporary administration proceedings for Bobar Banka a.d. Bijeljina had concluded on December 23, 2014.

After TI BiH continued to insist on receiving the Final Report, as it is the only way for the public to become acquainted with the measures taken, the RS Banking Agency refused to provide the Final Report, stating that it constitutes a business secret.

TI BiH intends to initiate administrative litigation regarding this decision of the Agency, considering that the Law on Freedom of Access to Information, and the public interest in this case, have not been taken into account, given the consequences caused by the sudden closure of a bank.

Furthermore, the fact that it was first announced that the Report was not ready, and only then did the Agency refuse to provide it, raises suspicions that the temporary administrator either never compiled the document in which they were supposed to explain their work in detail, or this is simply a way to conceal the inaction of supervisory bodies, as well as the illegalities suspected since the beginning of the Bobar Banka affair.

The Government of Republika Srpska proposed amendments to the Law on Banks in 2013 precisely to more accurately define the responsibilities of temporary and liquidational administrators, but also to grant greater supervisory powers to the RS Banking Agency.

Thus, among other things, it was foreseen to compile a Final Report on the temporary administration procedure, which would clarify the measures taken and their effects.

The RS Banking Agency, arbitrarily and without considering the Law on Freedom of Access to Information, which treats the publication of information of public importance as a rule, decided to declare the Report a business secret, thereby denying the public access to information about all activities undertaken so far in the Bobar Banka case.

TI BiH believes that there is no valid reason to prohibit access to the Final Report of the temporary administrator in the Bobar Banka case, and that its publication can only contribute to shedding light on the entire affair, while hiding information creates additional doubts about the legal work of the Banking Agency and the temporary administrator, it was announced from TIBIH.