Republic of Serbia Financial Sector Assessment Program Update : Corporate and Household Debt Restructuring
Nonperforming Loans (NPLs) in the banking system constituted 16.5 percent of total loans, owing primarily to the corporate sector. The Credit Bureau, maintained by the Association of Serbian Banks, also discloses dramatic increases in corporate and...
Main Authors: | , |
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Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/996791468103149002/Serbia-Corporate-and-household-debt-restructuring-technical-note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28121 |
Summary: | Nonperforming Loans (NPLs) in the
banking system constituted 16.5 percent of total loans,
owing primarily to the corporate sector. The Credit Bureau,
maintained by the Association of Serbian Banks, also
discloses dramatic increases in corporate and retail
defaults over the past year. NPL resolution and loan loss
mitigation is hampered by a still evolving but uneven
collateral and enforcement framework that complicates
restructuring and leads to delays and lower recoveries in
execution procedures. Corporate debt resolution is further
complicated by a pattern of corporate misconduct designed to
circumvent a creditor's legitimate enforcement rights.
This is particularly acute in response to account blockages.
In an effort to survive, business owners frequently engage
in a pattern of corporate fraud to avoid their legitimate
obligations by creating alter ego or shell companies through
which to conduct their ongoing business activities, with all
funds passing through the new legal entity. That entity is
free from debt and can open bank accounts, engage in
contracts, and carry on business as usual using the
corporate assets of the prior legal entity under cleverly
disguised lease or contractual use obligations. In most
modern economies, such practices constitute fraud or
fraudulent transfers that can carry stiff penalties,
including loss of business privileges. Other reported abuses
include applying for voluntary dissolution during which the
owner or a friendly receiver continues to operate the
business for years in an apparent wind-down of
the business, while ignoring creditor claims. |
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