Representatives of the monetary authorities and domestic banks, whose majority stake holders are foreign banks, told Tanjug on Saturday that they are not planning to reduce the scope of their business in Serbia, nor are they intending to withdraw their capital due to a new wave of financial crisis in the eurozone.

Coordinator of the Association of Serbian Businessmen Branislav Grujic said a few days ago in Novi Sad that the foreign banks have virtually frozen their busineš dealings in Serbia and are thinking of the ways to withdraw their money from the country.

Grujic added that the Italian, Greek, as well as certain Austrian and French banks, which are doing business in Serbia, are preoccupied with the problems they are experiencing due to the current economic crisis, and therefore they are not thinking about “how to pump money into Serbia, but rather how to withdraw it.”

“We can confirm that the Reiffeisen Bank is not planning to reduce the scope of its busineš or withdraw the capital in any way,” a bank official told Tanjug, adding that on the contrary, they are planning to invest even more and extend its network in line with the market potentials and the company's business plans.

The National Bank of Serbia's (NBS) Vice Governor Mira Eric Jovic told Tanjug that the banks in Serbia, whose majority stake holders are foreign banks, are not withdrawing their capital, and noted that the NBS has not noticed any such activities during its regular monitoring.

“The banks will not withdraw their capital because these are not just branch offices of the foreign banks, but rather domestic legal entities. Therefore, the capital is a guarantee that they will perform their obligations, so it will not be withdrawn,” Vice Governor Eric Jovic was adamant.