As announced on 27 July, the National Bank of Serbia adopted two decisions as part of the new set of measures introduced by the Government, aimed to ease the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic further and maintain the stability of the Serbian economy and the financial system.

The decision on Temporary Measures for Banks to Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Order to Maintain the Stability of the Financial System

According to this decision, the bank is obliged to offer the debtors (individuals, farmers, entrepreneurs and companies) a postponement in repayment of obligations (“Moratorium”), within three days from the date of entry into force of the decision.

The Moratorium refers to the debtors’ obligations based on loans and credit line products (e.g. current account or credit card overdrafts), as well as liabilities based on other banking financial products (for example obligations based on bank guarantees).

The Moratorium does not apply to fees for bank services, such as payment services (for example transaction commission, account maintenance fee), investment services, broker-dealer operations, etc. Furthermore, the bank does not charge default interest on outstanding receivables during the Moratorium, does not initiate enforcement proceedings, as well as the procedure of forced collection against debtors, but charges standard (previously agreed) interest.

The bank is obligated to create a new repayment plan that extends during the entire time while the Moratorium is in power and to notify all the debtors who are willing to accept the Moratorium. Two options will be offered to the debtors, as following:

1. to settle all their liabilities based on the loans that were covered by the Moratorium (all annuities from the moratorium period – principal amount and standard interest);
2. to settle all obligations based on standard interest charged during the Moratorium, with the extension of the loan repayment period for the amount of time of the Moratorium.

The Decision on Temporary Measures for the Providers of Financial Leasing

The leasing provider is obliged to offer the recipients of financial leasing – individuals, farmers, entrepreneurs, and companies a postponement of their repayment of obligations (previously stated as Moratorium) according to the financial leasing agreement, within three days from the date of entry into force of the decision.

Also, the leasing provider will not charge default interest on outstanding receivables during the Moratorium, will not initiate enforcement proceedings, nor the procedure of forced collection against the debtor, and will not take any other legal actions to collect receivables from the debtor but will only charge standard (previously agreed) interest.

Banks and leasing providers are obligated, due to the Moratorium, to notify their clients about the current decisions (offers) via their web pages. It will be automatically assumed that the offer has been delivered to all debtors, who will be able to decline through post, phone or personally at the premises of the banks or leasing providers offices. They can decline the offer for a single loan, credit line or any other financial product or specified agreement for a lease.

If the debtor does not decline the offer within 10 days (from the date when the offer was made public on the website) it will be considered that the offer was automatically accepted – the Moratorium applies to the debtor’s obligations which are due in the timeframe from 1 August to the 30 September 2020.

This text is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Should you require any additional information, feel free to contact us.

Contact:

Radovan Grbović, Partner
radovan.grbovic@sog.rs

Katarina Aškić, Junior Associate
katarina.askic@sog.rs