The Assembly of the Association of Serbian Banks held its annual session on 20 June 2023, in the premises of the Central House of the Army of Serbia. Nikola Mihailović, president of the Executive Board of Mirabank, was elected as the chairman of the Assembly.
This year's Assembly was attended by members of the ASB Board of Directors and representatives of other banks, ASB members as well as special advisors from the Association, and we are honored that the session was also attended by the Governor of the National Bank of Serbia, Mrs Jorgovanka Tabaković, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank, Mr Željko Jović, and the General Director of the Sector for the Control of Bank Operations, Mr Darko Stamenković.
In her opening address, the Governor pointed to the basic macroeconomic indicators and gave a brief overview of the activities undertaken by the National Bank of Serbia and the results achieved in the previous period, noting the increased uncertainty at the global level, and that the National Bank always made thoughtful and careful decisions regarding measures, all with the aim of preserving the financial stability of Serbia. As she further emphasised, inflation was not met with a sudden increase in interest rates - those rates were increased gradually, in order to stabilise inflationary expectations. The Governor noted that in the coming period, the National Bank will remain committed to preserving the relative stability of the exchange rate by conducting operations on the foreign exchange market, pointing out that foreign exchange reserves are at a record level and that they amounted to over 22 billion euros at the end of May. She emphasised the achieved stability of the banking sector of the Republic of Serbia, which proved to be extremely resilient even in extraordinary circumstances, which was certainly contributed to by the innovative, but also carefully calibrated regulatory and supervisory framework. The Governor concluded her presentation by noting that there are currently 20 banks operating in the Republic of Serbia, each one being equally important, both to the NBS and to herself as Govervor, regardless of their assets and market position, as each individual bank is an important link in ensuring competitiveness, improving the quality of services provided to users of financial services, gaining public trust, and thus preserving the financial stability of Serbia.
In the continuation of the session, the ASB General Secretary, Mrs Marina Papadakis, submitted the Report on the Association's operations for the previous year and explained the Program of Activities with the financial plan for 2023, which were both unanimously adopted by the Assembly. Also, the Secretary General announced that this year the Association will mark the Day of the Association, 4 December 2023, in the form of a banking summit, which would bring together key actors of the Serbian and international banking scene and creators of economic policy in the country and invited those present to support this event with their participation within the ASB - an institution established 102 years ago.
