OHR

PDHR Calls for Centralisation of BiH Banking Supervision Before
October Elections

The Principal Deputy High Representative, Larry Butler, will call again this
morning for the Entity parliaments to enact the necessary transfer laws that
will allow a central banking supervisions system to be established in BiH before
the October elections.

A single banking supervision system will further protect
depositors, and, by increasing banking security and maintaining the buoyancy of
lending, will help to encourage investment and create jobs. Establishing such a
system is an
SAA
requirement

Currently, banks in BiH are supervised by the two Entity Banking Agencies.
The fact that cross-Entity banking has become the norm makes the existence of
two banking regulators superfluous and counterproductive. It is expensive
and inefficient to maintain separate organisations – and costs will rise further
in the future as BiH begins to comply with EU banking Directives over the next
few years. This will require special expertise, which will be more expensive if
it has to be offered by two organizations rather than one.

If both Entity parliaments enact the necessary agreements in the coming
weeks, a modern European-standard banking supervision system, under the aegis of
the Central Bank rather than separate Entity Banking Agencies, can be
established before the October elections.

There is a consensus among all the main parties in BiH that centralizing the
banking supervision system will benefits depositors and encourage investors, and
the Bankers Association, which groups together banks from right across the
country, has already come out publicly in support of this move.

Ambassador Butler will make the case for centralizing the banking supervision
system when he addresses the Fourth Assembly of BiH Bankers Association later
this morning. I’ve brought along copies of his speech.

EUFOR

No statement.