The accounts were closed, but the sanctions remained, as did the additional pressures they bring with them.
Politicians from the Republika Srpska, who are increasingly appearing on the US blacklist, have started closing their bank accounts. Nenad Stevandić, the president of the entity parliament, says that he did this before inviting the president of the RS. Obviously, the American sanctions, however, affect Bosnia and Herzegovina’s officials, although they do not admit it in public. And new, as well as additional pressures on the banking sector due to cooperation with blacklisted persons were announced.
The latest wave of sanctions imposed by the US administration on officials from the RS did not surprise anyone. A few days earlier, announcements and very serious threats came from Washington that the wave of sanctions could be extended to the banking sector as well.
“Sanctions do not only apply to specific persons or entities, but carry a risk for everyone who supports them… If a financial institution carries out transactions for a sanctioned person or entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then that financial institution or bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina exposes itself to risk from sanctions”, said Anna Morris, v. d. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the USA.
RS officials admitted that there is a lot of pressure on banks not to cooperate with persons who are on the US blacklist, as well as entity institutions.
“Sheer abuse of US power. They can only do one thing – to prevent banks from correspondence with foreign countries. I will withdraw all accounts from the banks where I receive my salary and I suggest everyone to do so, and in the coming days we will see how we will enable people to exercise their labor rights through internal regulations,” said Milorad Dodik, president of the RS.
“You know that on June 28, Vidovdan last year, when we were supposed to pay the Vienna bonds, they came to the bank from the American Embassy and tried to stop the transaction or swift. We came two days earlier, they didn’t even know”, said Radovan Višković, Prime Minister of RS.
Višković notes that because of all the threats, as well as the blocking of projects – both international and domestic, there will be lawsuits, even against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journalists and experts in political situations point out that the threats from Washington are clear and serious.
“It caused quite a stir among the bankers. What can a bank do if international payment transactions are suspended? Banks that enable payment transactions can have a problem, but so can local banks,” points out Andrijana Pisarević, journalist of the business portal Capital.
The Banking Agency did not want to comment on whether a new crisis will be created in the RS banking sector. The Director of the Agency, Srđan Šuput, did not answer our calls, nor did he respond to messages related to this topic.
