Scandalous Statements: Bobar Bank Clients Are Themselves to Blame for the Damage!

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) strongly condemns the statement by the Director of the Banking Agency of Republika Srpska, Slavica Injac, which told citizens that they themselves should monitor the operations of banks, reports the Patria news agency.

Injac stated after the session of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, where the report of the Banking Agency of RS was adopted, regarding the closure of Bobar Bank and suspicions about the stability of banks, as well as the Agency's work:

-Those who have more funds should have more economic knowledge and should follow audit reports, bank websites, and seek information from the banks themselves.

In this way, the Director of the Banking Agency of RS not only rendered meaningless the existence of the supervisory institution of the banking system that she heads, but practically told Bobar Bank clients that they are themselves to blame for the damage caused by its collapse.

TI BiH reminds that the Law on the Banking Agency of RS stipulates that the Agency was established precisely for the regulation and control of the banking system.

Also, the Agency's Statute provides that the Agency informs the public by providing timely information, issuing official publications, holding press conferences, and creating conditions for the public to be acquainted with the Agency's work. TI BiH believes that such conditions cannot be created if the Director of the Banking Agency of RS tells citizens to take care of the stability of banks themselves by searching for information.

With such a statement, Injac has damaged the reputation of the Agency, for which the Law on the Banking Agency of RS provides the possibility of dismissal from office, and has called into question the very purpose of the existence of the regulatory body by telling citizens to control the work of banks themselves.

TI BiH notes that it is unacceptable for the director of a supervisory agency that controls the stability of the banking system to most openly tell users of financial services to take care of the operations of their banks themselves, by further educating themselves or searching for information.

Therefore, TI BiH demands that the Agency's Management Board and the Minister of Finance of Republika Srpska respond to this scandalous statement, and that a procedure be initiated to determine the responsibility of the Agency and its management for the collapse of Bobar Bank, as well as to identify those responsible for all abuses and crimes that led to its liquidation. Otherwise, the damaged public trust in the work of the Banking Agency of RS will be deepened, especially now that Injac has essentially said that there is no need for the Agency to exist as an intermediary between citizens and financial organizations, the TI BiH statement reads.