Slovenian NLB Bank Can ‘Survive’ Without Bad Bank Plan, CEO Says

Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d., Slovenia’s biggest bank, can “survive” if the country fails to implement the so-called bad bank plan, Chief Executive Officer Janko Medja said.

“I think the bank can survive in both scenarios but it mostly depends on how quickly we can clean our balance sheet,” Medja said in an interview with public broadcaster TV Slovenija late yesterday. “With a bad bank plan we can do that in a couple of years, on our own it would take much longer.”

NLB, as the Ljubljana-based lender is known, is set to report a loss for a fourth consecutive year because bad loans continue to increase, Medja said.

The government’s plan to recapitalize its banks with the bad bank plan is being threatened, after a trade union called a referendum. The vote can be stopped by a ruling of the Constitutional court.

To contact the reporter on this story: Boris Cerni in Ljubljana at bcerni@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net