Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia at the meeting held on Wednesday, December 18th, adopted a decision to accept into hearing the initiatives for constitutional review of the Banking Act (ZBan-1L), which were proposed on 4th and 10th December by the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) which submitted the initiatives through Kunič Law Office in the name of 290 holders of bonds. The Constitutional Court accepts for hearing only those initiatives whose initiators have expressed legal interest, and the judges of the Constitutional Court have rejected statement made by the Slovenian Government which has been claiming that the initiators do not show legal interest and therefore the Court should dismiss their initiative.    

The Constitutional Court has also accepted the suggestion of the initiators that their initiative should be treated preferentially. It has even decided that the initiative will be treated with absolute precedence, which means that the procedure of the constitutional review of the amending act continued on Wednesday.  

Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court has rejected the proposal of initiators to withold the implementation of this statute until the Court's final decision is made. It seems that the misleading claims of the Slovenian Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Slovenia about the »catastrophic consequences«and »jeopardy of the entire financial system in the Republic of Slovenia«which would be the result of such witholding, along with the fact that the holders will only have »material«consequences, convinced the Constitutional Court Judges that the proposed witholding is not necessary.  

The cancellation of shares and subordinated bonds of the Slovenian banks has already taken place, synchronously with the Constitutional Court Session. A-bank has informed its investors that their shares and subordinated bonds do not exists any more at 15:47, NLB has done a similar thing at 16:51, and NKBM at 19:12.

None of the three banks or boards thought it would be appropriate to express their regret, let alone apologize to their investors and creditors – A-bank board has in the previously mentioned statement even ludicrously written that A-bank »as a bank important for the system, with stable operating profit, will continue to pay special attention to ensure security and stability of operations". 

Before the Wednesday's session of the Slovenian Institutional Court VZMD submitted to the Institutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia through Kunič Law Office in the name of 290 holders of bonds the initiatives for constitutional review, or a written reply to the statement by the Slovenian Government about both VZMD initiatives for constitutional review of the Banking Act (ZBan-1L). VZMD has, with these two initiatives, also suggested witholding implementation of disputable amending act. Some VZMD experts think that this opinion - which the Slovenian Government adopted and published on Friday, 13th December 2013, after being asked by the Constitutional Court to make its stand on the initiatives for constitutional review - is absolutely misleading.

Another initiative has been added to the above mentioned initiatives, namely the demand of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia for the constitutional review, and VZMD has emphasized that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia may indeed reject the initiatives, whereas the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia has been qualified for proposing cases which the Constitutional Court has to deal with. Like VZMD, the National Council has expressed its opinion that a few ZBan-1L provisions are not in accordance with the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the citizens. Thus an especially problematic provision is the one that, in case of state bank recapitalisation, enables cancellation of debts of all those bank creditors who could, in the case of bankruptcy in the sequence of repaying bank's liabilities, have their turn after the holders of bank deposits and senior bonds. There are two other provisions which are rather questionable: a provision that forbids the expropriated creditors to bring a suit against the bank, and a provision which declares as null guarantees in brochures that the risk of non-payment to the holders of subordinated bonds can take place only in case of bank bankruptcy.

However, the Slovenian Government in its Press Release keeps pretending ignorance, because it simply states that »challenged articles do not interfere with the rights of investors«(?!), that it will be possible to eliminate the »consequences of the challenged articles by constitutional appeal«(after previous constant assurances that it will not be necessary to abolish the consequences, because none of them is against the law), that in case of witholding ZBan-1L »procedures of bank assistance will be in contrast with the EU legislation about bailouts«and it has once again concealed that the guidelines of the European Commission from 1st August 2013 are not binding, and the directive is to be made in the following year, and the member states are to enforce it on 1st January 2018, and on top of that in Article 35, which defines bank measures for gathering capital, they talk about the »voluntary transformation of the subordinated instruments into capital on the basis of stimulation«! The Government of the Republic of Slovenia furthermore in the publicly published material – contrary to the principles regarding protection of personal data – reveals the name of the initiator of the constitutional review, a member of the VZMD Expert Council, Tadej Kotnik, PhD, and it gives to the Constitutional Court a statement that the »initiators do not show any legal interest to challenge ZBan-1L«. Although the assessment of legal interest is not the government's domain, VZMD is wondering if the government of the Republic of Slovenia is not familiar with the fact that the initiative was also filed in the name of NLB bond holders of 26th issue – NLB announced last Thursday that the holders of all NLB d.d. subordinated bonds will have their bonds cancelled, in full and without any compensation?! Apart from that VZMD also emphasizes the A-bank announcement stating that all holders of subordinated bonds will lose their entire investment, also by cancellation, which is – according to the claims by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia – necessary for establishing enough capital for A-bank operations, and the following day A-bank announced that it will invest 5 million EUR of capital into Argolina d.o.o. company which is involved in »investment engineering«!!!

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia in its Statement - sent to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia regarding the VZMD proposal for temporary witholding ZBan-1L, given in the framework of U-I-295-13 initiative – is trying to argue the point that witholding ZBan-1L is dangerous on the basis of 8 claims which are, as paragraphs, stated twice: first in point 5 of the summary of material, and then again on the 1st page of the Statement itself, and later it tries to justify these claims one by one.  

Therefore we have decided to publish a reply or arguments of some VZMD experts related to the Statement of the Slovenian Government, according to the individual claims:

1.) The Government claims that »the challenged articles do not interfere with the rights of investors«. Provisions regarding writing-off qualified obligations of a bank which have been entered in ZBan-1 with the amending act ZBan-1L provide that, in case any of the Slovenian banks gets State aid, debts of all those creditors of the bank who were, in case of its bankruptcy in the sequence of paying bank liabilities placed after the holders of bank deposits and ordinary bonds, are simply cancelled. NLB bank has already officially announced that such a measure will befall all holders of subordinated bonds of this bank by using ZBan-1L. The measure of cancelling subordinated bonds before implementing ZBan-1L was not possible even when bank went bankrupt, because bankruptcy does not terminate any of the debtor's liabilities, only the way of their payment changes. In regular operations debts are paid until their due date, in bankruptcy in the order of their subordination – first prior claims (salaries due), then regular (in banks these are deposits and ordinary bonds), then subordinated (subordinated bonds, then hybrid bonds, at the end shares). If there is a lack of bankruptcy mass, then some creditors are left without payment, however not without their debts – if at any time after the end of the bankruptcy procedure some non-registered property of a debtor is found, this is also used for payment of debts which have not been paid yet. Therefore, according to our opinion, it is clear that the intervention into the rights is present and very obvious.   

2. and 3.) The government claims that »the consequences of the challenged articles can be abolished by constitutional complaint«and that »the consequences will only be of material nature«. This is in contradiction with the Government's claims made so far, namely that it will not be necessary to abolish ZBan-1L consequences, because none of them is against the law. Now the Government allows that there will be some consequences which will be against the law, but it says that they will be »only material«- therefore they can be abolished by compensation. It is difficult to judge all the consequences that can have unlawful confiscation of an important part of someone's property. In case of legal entities this can lead to insolvency and consequently to bankruptcy and termination of business operations, including the termination of employment of all employees, which can be difficult to solve with compensation.

4.) The Government claims that "ZBan-1L requires that the creditors, whose claims were the subject to a measure, do not have losses that are bigger than the losses they would have in case of bank's bankruptcy«. NLB, d.d., announcement from 12 December, cited under item 1, explicitly states that the use of ZBan-1 »probably means writing-off of all currently valid subordinated instruments at NLB d.d.«STA has also already reported that subordinated NLB d.d. creditors will lose an entire investment with this measure. Thus the Government's claim could only hold true if, in case of NLB bankruptcy and the use of all valid legal provisions, none of the subordinated creditors of this bank received any payment.    

However, that this, in case of subordinated bonds of NLB d.d. as an issuing bank, is not true, can be proved by a simple calculation: if NLB d.d. went bankrupt, then all loans given to this bank by the state (Republic of Slovenia) as its main owner, would turn into bank's assets, according to the 498 Article of the Companies Act (ZGD-1). According to the latest accounting statements from 30 September 2013 the state had in NLB, d.d. a deposit in the amount of 1.36 billion euros, which means that even if, in case of insolvency NLB capital was negative in the amount of 1.36 billion euros, the capital would with this conversion again reach point zero, which in terms of bookkeeping suffices that all creditors of the company are entirely paid, including those most subordinated ones. In principle it is possible that there were additional losses that would arise as a result of cashing bankrupt's estate, but on the day NLB, d.d. officially announced that its subordinated creditors will be entirely expropriated of their claims, its capital definitely was not so deeply negative, even it had been calculated according to the most unfavourable scenario of stress tests. The amount of NLB, d.d. capital calculated in stress tests was not publicly announced, but a statement that, even if considering the most negative scenario with capital increase in the amount of 1.9 billion euros, a 15% capital adequacy of this bank will be achieved, which means that with such capital increase, even with such scenario, NLB, d.d. capital would be approximately 1.7 billion euros (15 per cent of bank resources in the total amount of 11 or 12 billion euros), which means that without this capital increase, this capital would be negative in the amount of approximately 200 million euros. If this negative capital was the reason for NLB, d.d. bankruptcy procedures, the transformation of state deposit, as defined in Article 498 of ZGD-1, would place capital back on the positive level, in the amount of more than a billion euros, which definitely would be enough to pay off all creditors, even those most subordinated ones. 

5.) The Government claims that »all procedures regarding aid to banks will run into difficulties, if they are carried out contrary to the rules of the European Union regarding State aid«. The Government has in this claim again »overlooked«the fact that the guidelines of the European Commission are not binding; only a directive which is a technical legal document with unambiguous and precisely defined terminology, and which is formed on the basis of non-technical guidelines, represents binding instructions that provisions of this directive need to be enforced in national legislation of the EU member states. In case of guidelines regarding State aid to banks, the directive is to be formed in the following year, and member states are to put it into force on 1st January 2018, and until then this directive is not to be binding.  

In addition to this the guidelines in the report of the European Commission regarding the use of rules about State aid to banks that the Government refers to, in Article 35, which defines bank measures for collecting capital, talk about »voluntary transformation of subordinated instruments into capital on the basis of an incentive«, and ZBan-1L defines that this transformation, without the owners' will or negotiations with them, be ordered by the Bank of Slovenia, and it can also substitute it by a compulsory write-off – also in its entirety, which was in NLB, d.d. public statement cited in item 1, already officially announced.

6.) The Government claims that »banks have to be aware of the fact that breaking the rules of the European Union means that the European Union will demand that countries return financial means which were unlawfully received, which means that rehabilitation of bank system will not be successful«.  This claim repeats the thesis that the guidelines are law, which is not true; even a directive is not a law, but only an injunction which indicates that provisions of a directive need to be enforced by a law, and by enforcing a law in the national legislation the use of these provisions becomes binding, and it is against the law if we do not use them.    

7.) The Government claims that »the financial resources which the country has at disposal at the moment may be insufficient, and it will not be possible to ensure capital adequacy of banks«. State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance officially declared on 29 November that:«4.7 billion euros will be the maximum amount invested into banks«. When the results of stress tests were announced they said that the State will contribute 3.01 billion euros for bank recovery of NLB, NKBM and A-bank, for capital increase of Probanka and Factor Bank 441 million euros, and for capital increase of bad bank (DUTB) additional 200 million euros, therefore 3.65 billion euros altogether. An entire subordinated debt of the Slovene banking system totals 800 million euros – subordinated debt of the previously mentioned banks is lower – therefore it is clear that because this debt will not be written off, the required financial means from the current 3.65 billion euros cannot exceed 4.7 billion euros.

8.) The Government claims that »emergency measures needed for the recovery of bank system will not be implemented«. This also is not true, because the government can carry out all other measures which can be implemented by using all provisions of the Measures for Strengthening Bank Stability Act (ZUKSB) and all ZBan-1 provisions which have been in use before ZBan-1L was introduced.   

Belarussian-Slovene Business Conference took place yesterday in the premises of the Belarussian Chamber of Commerce in Minsk. The Conference was attended by 21 Slovene and 39 Belarussian companies and institutions, among others Albin Promotion, ACS – Automotive Cluster of Slovenia, Finance Newspaper, Duol, Gonzaga Pro, Slovenian Chamber of Commerce, Helios Group, Institute of Tourism and Sports Radenci, Iskratel, Klima Petek, Kovinatrade, POP TV, Predilnica Litija (a spinning mill), Riko and Stubelj. The Conference was also attended by VZMD President Kristjan Verbič, M.Sc., who arrived at Minsk together with the representatives of the Slovene business diplomacy directly from Moscow, and he presented at the Slovene-Russian Investment Conference the possibilities and opportunities in the framework of VZMD international business-investment programmes: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net), along with PREMIERING OF THE VIDEO prepared by investo.tv for these occasions (click on the image on the left to play the video). 

In the framework of yesterday's Conference the assembled audience was initially addressed by: Belarussian Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Kupchina, General Director of the Directorate for Economic Diplomacy of the Republic of Slovenia Mr Stanislav Raščan, PhD, and Deputy Chairman of the Belarussian Chamber of Commerce Mr Vladimir Ulakhovich. A representative of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce (GZS) Aleš Cantarutti and a representative of Belarussian National Agency for Investments and Privatisation Tatiana Bychkouskaya, presented to the assembled audience Slovene and Belarussian business environment, whereas a representative of the State Tourism Organisation»Centrekurort«Ksenia Pyzh presented their project 2014 Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus.

The presentations were followed by B2B business meetings where a great interest was expressed in cooperation and the possibilities provided by the two VZMD business-investment programmes. Therefore Mr Verbič, M.Sc., had most meetings of all the 15 Slovene representatives – 8 meetings had been planned initially, however, due to the additional interest Mr Verbič held 11 meetings with the Belarussian participants at the Conference. The conversations were followed by meetings with the representatives of Belarussian institutions in the framework of mixed committee, and a dinner afterwards.

The Conference in Minsk was the last – the 18th carried out abroad this year (VIDEO CLIP) - presentation of VZMD international business-investment programmes before the start of a new season next year. After this year's successful presentations in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Cape Town, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid, Minsk, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo, Toronto and Zagreb, VZMD kindly invites those wishing to secure their business interest by taking part in our activitiesto contact the VZMD investo.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. All those interested in our activities can also contact our coordinator to inform him about the

preferred date for a meeting with us and to get more information about our programmes, the anticipated activities and possible opportunities in 2014.   

Slovene-Russian Investment Conference will take place in Moscow next week along the visit of the Slovene Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek. Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association has - in cooperation with the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, Public Agency SPIRIT Slovenia and the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce (GZS) - invited also some companies and investment projects, included in their two business-investment programmes Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net), to participate in the project, and they have been included in a special promotional catalogue which has been prepared for the investment conferences in Düsseldorf, Milan, Moscow and Paris.

In the framework of the investment conference the assembled audience will be addressed by the Prime Minister Ms Bratušek, the Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia Mr Nikolaj Nikiforov and Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Board Mr Sergej Gorkov. They both will - along with the Slovenian Minister of Finances Mr Uroš Čufer, PhD, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian metallurgical giant Koks, and the Slovene Ambassador in the Russian Federation Mr Primož Šeligo – participate at the round table discussion entitled »Investment Opportunities in the Republic of Slovenia«. Mr. Boštjan Skalar, a member of the board of the Slovenska odškodninska družba (SOD), Matej Runjak, NLB bank representative in Moscow, Metod Dragonja and VZMD President Mr Kristjan Verbič will present to the participants of the Conference business climate in Slovenia and the institutional support for foreign investors. Slovenian companies and investment projects will be presented at the Investment Conference as well.

VZMD President Mr. Kristjan Verbič yesterday returned from Bucharest, where he attended the Economic and Trade Forum: China – Central and Eastern European Countries, which took place along the meeting of the Prime Ministers from 16 Central and Eastern European countries with the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiangom. 

The forum was opened on Tuesday by the opening addresses of the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang. Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek, MA, was also attending the important meeting of Prime Ministers from 17 countries, and VZMD President has also met Ms Bratušek. Mr Verbič, MA, has also exchanged a few words with the Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, and the two Romanian ministers: the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Daniel Constantin and the Minister of Communications and Information Science Dan Nica.

Besides VZMD President Mr Verbič three other representatives of the Slovenian companies attended the Forum: Duško Kos, Director of Studio Moderna company d.o.o., Tomi Ilijaš, Director of Arctur company d.o.o., and Luka Mulej, a representative of Xlab company d.o.o. All three representatives were received by the Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek just before her meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister. 

Otherwise more than 1000 representatives of companies and institutions from 17 countries were attending the Forum, and 213 of them came from China. In the framework of the efforts of the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association's business-investment programmes (VZMD), Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors' Network (invest-to.net), Mr Verbič has established numerous contacts, and he has also held some discussions with the highly esteemed participants. (In the photo Mr Verbič with the Polish Deputy Minister of Economy Ms Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik and the Slovenian Minister of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning Mr Samo Omerzel.)

After the gala opening of the Forum on Tuesday and a panel the participants were discussing the themes of infrastructure, agriculture, energy, tourism and information technology and communications.

The official part of the visit was concluded on Wednesday when VZMD president attended the awards ceremony "Financial Leaders' Hall of Fame 2013", which has been this year organised for the 13^th time in row by the Romanian business magazine Business Arena.

Suitable provisions have also been made this time to ensure successful presentations of the companies, institutions and investment projects included in the two VZMD international business-investment programmes.

Quite a few successful presentations have been carried out this year in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Cape Town, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo, Toronto and Zagreb, and at least two more visits have been planned for this year which are supposed to take place in Minsk and Moscow, therefore VZMD is pleased to invite all who would like to take part in the activities to contact VZMD investo.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

After the active participation at the business conference in the framework of theSlovene business delegation, and after participation at numerous events, meetings and Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, VZMD President Kristjan Verbič, M.Sc., concluded his visit to Canadian Toronto and continued business and private networking in the nearby Buffalo (the USA), from where he yesterday departed for Bucharest, where he is to attend the Economic Forum, alongside the meeting of Middle & Eastern European Prime Ministers and the Chinese Prime Minister.President Verbič was travelling to Bucharest via Istanbul, where he was supposed to attend gala opening of the Turkish-Slovenian Business Club, but the opening has unfortunately been postponed.

Before his departure from Canada VZMD President attended the central event ofBled Mutual Benefit Society, the association of the Slovenians living in Canada with 80 years of tradition, where he addressed more than 200 assembled members of the Slovenian community in Toronto, and exchanged his views with many partners in dialogue. At the initiative of the President of the All-Slovenian Cultural Committee in Toronto Mr. Marjan Kolarič, VZMD President also attended a traditional Victoria Fund charity auction, which is a part of the previously mentioned Cultural Committee (in the photos: the assembled participants in the Great Hall of the Slovene Cultural Centre, next to Mr. Verbič there is Mr. Marjan Kolarič and his predecessor of many years Mr. Stane Kranjc; PHOTO BY: Ciril Soršak).

During his visit to Canada Mr Verbič met numerous representatives and respected members of the Slovenian community, among others Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Slovenia in Canada Mr John Dom, Charge d'affaires ad interim at the Slovenian Embassy in Ottawa Ms Irena Grill, Executive Director of KREK Credit Union Ltd. Mr Joseph Cestnik, Top Grade Molds, Ltd. Executive Director Mr Joe Slobodnik, SKAL International ex-President Mr Frank Vismeg, the representative of Bank of Montreal Ms Sylvia Turk, Kearns Waste Sciences, Ltd. Representative Mr John Ivan Plut, Editor of the Canadian magazine »Glasilo«Ms Milena Soršak, J.M. Die Limited CEO Mr Joe Skof, the owner of a famous boat, anchored in Toronto, and former Jadran restaurant owner Mr John Letnik – Captain John (on the left of the photo), etc.

In the framework of endeavours of the international VZMD business-investment programmes Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) VZMD President departed from Toronto to the USA, to the nearby Buffalo, where he visited, among other things, the City Hall and the office of the Mayor Byron W. Brown, and this visit took place exactly on the 50th anniversary of the President John F. Kennedy's assassination, which they mark in Buffalo with special attention, since Kennedy visited this city exactly 51 years ago.

Mr Verbič, M.Sc., had numerous meetings in Buffalo and he also strengthened the contacts he established in July 1993 as the Head of the 1st Slovenian delegation at the Universiade. At the same time he also established many new contacts withimportant people, especially those who are important for the Slovenian wine growers and wine-cellars. Thus he has met, among others, a renowned and awarded wine connoisseur Paula Paradise (on the left of the photo) who was for many years working as a Director of Wine Education for Prime Wine Corp, one of the leading companies in the area of wine trade in the USA; Ms Paradise is planning to open her own wine house and a wine shop in spring 2014. Ms Paradise and Mr Verbič tried a sample of Pullus wine (it has been awarded many times, among others it has been awarded: Gold Decanter Award, London; Gold Wine Awards in China and Hong Kong, Mundus Vini Gold Medal, Germany), which is the Sort of 10 Barrels of Ptuj Wine Cellar, and Ms Paradise, one of the most eminent wine connoisseurs, has praised the wine's exceptional quality, and she also expressed an interest in including Slovenian wines in the wine offer of her own Wine House and Wine Shop.

Immediately after returning to Europe VZMD President departed for Bucharest – via Istanbul where he was supposed to attend the postponed opening of the Turkish-Slovenian Business Club yesterday – and today he is to attend the Economic Forum at the Romanian Parliament, alongside the meeting of the Middle & Eastern European Prime Ministers with the Chinese Prime Minister, and on this occasion Mr. Verbič is also going to meet Slovenian Prime Minister Ms Alenka Bratušek, MA. This is his second visit to Bucharest this year, after the World Bank's International Conference where VZMD President participated as the first speaker at the regular session of the meeting.

Quite a few successful presentations have been carried out this year in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Cape Town, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo, Toronto and Zagreb, and at least a few more visits have been planned for this year which are supposed to take place in Minsk and Moscow, therefore VZMD is pleased to invite all who would like to take part in the activities to contact VZMD investo.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail tratar@investo.si.

Mr. Kristjan Verbič, M.Sc., the President of VZMD (Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association) has been, as an active member of the Slovene business delegation, visiting Toronto since Wednesday, in the framework of the efforts of (VZMD) business investment programmes Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net)

Upon the arrival to Canada Mr. Verbič was received by the honorary consul general of the Republic of Slovenia in Canada, who is a highly respected businessmen of Slovenian descent, Mr. John Doma, and Mr. Marjan Kolarič, a representative of the Canadian Slovenes at the Slovenian government and the President of the Arts Council in Toronto. Among other things they were discussing the possibilities of deepened cooperation. According to Mr. Kolarič there are more than 35.000 inhabitants of Slovenian descent living in Canada who are involved in numerous activities and thus, only in Toronto, they also have their own Cultural
Centre, a radio station, a Slovene school and two banks.

On Thursday Mr. Verbič had, among other things, a meeting with the President and CEO of Rocklinc Investment Partners Inc. Mr. Jonathan M. Wellum, who has more than 20 years of experience of managing important investment funds. In the evening Mr. Verbič attended a festive opening of one of the biggest world food and wine fairs Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, which is visited by more than 45.000guests every year. Slovene showroom, where 7 companies are presenting themselves, has been visited by numerous members and visible representatives of the Slovene Community. In the framework of the fair many business links have been formed, and many presentations have been carried out for numerous merchants, caterers, winemakers, food businesses and enterprises, as well as for the wider public.

In the framework of the programme of the Slovene business delegation a business conference took place on Friday, as well as individual meetings between the Slovene companies and the representatives of the Canadian companies and institutions, which have been co-organised by the Canadian Industrial Association and Canadian–Slovene Chamber of Commerce. In addition to Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, the Annual Power Conference APPrO 2013 will also take place during the visit of the Slovene business delegation on November 19 & 20.

As usually, suitable provisions have also been made this time to ensure that companies, institutions and investment projects included in the two VZMD international business-investment programmes have been successfully presented.

After this year's successful presentations in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid, Moscow,New Delhi, Tokyo and Zagreb, and at least a few more visits which have been planned for this year and are supposed to take place inBucharest, Moscow, Minsk and Buffalo, VZMD is pleased to invite all who would like to take part in the activities to contact VZMDinvesto.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail tratar@investo.si.

The president of the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), Mr. Kristjan Verbič, M.Sc., has received a notice of the Directorate General for Internal Market and Services of the European Commission about his placement on the List of experts who are to be appointed to the Financial Services User Group (FSUG),  and so far Slovenia has not had a representative in FSUG (in the photo, taken at the European Parliament, Mr. Kristjan Verbič with the EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Mr. Michel Barnier and EuroFinUse General Manager Mr. Guillaume Prache.) 

FSUG is an influential group, established in 2010 by the European Commission. During its first three-year mandate the group has proved very useful and effective, since it has been of a great assistance to the Commission at many initiatives, and at the same time it has also created its own ideas and projects. Thus, for example, it helped to rationalize and additionally improve the quality of contributions by consumers, small investors and companies when preparing the policy of the Commission in the field of financial services in general.

When being enlisted on the List of experts, Mr. Verbič, received a letter of congratulation sent by the General Manager of the European Federation of Financial Services Users (EuroFinUse), which was, otherwise, already represented in FSUG in the previous mandate.  

TheGeneral Assembly of the European Federation of Financial Services Users(EuroFinUse) took placein Villa Klimt in Vienna on Thursday, and the International Conference entitled The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors", whichwas organised byEuroFinUse and the Austrian Association of Shareholders (IVA), took place on the premises of Vienna Insurance Group on Friday.

This has been 2nd international conference in Vienna which was – after this year's conference of The European Business Angel Network EBAN 2013 (VIDEO), in the framework of the efforts of the international business-investment VZMD programmes: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) – attended by VZMD representatives, and this has also been 2ndEuroFinUse conference of this type, after the one in March, which took place in the European Parliament (VIDEO). 

Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) which is among the most active EuroFinUse members – VZMD President Mr Kristijan Verbič is also a member of the executive board – has this time included among the panel speakers a representative of the Slovene Insurance Business, Mr Benjamin Jošar, a member of Triglav Insurance Company d.d. Management Board.

In the framework of the round-table discussion VZMD President opened a discussion related to the opinion regarding the so called»investors' haircuts«in Slovenia, which could become an example for other countries. He also presented problems concerning theproposal of the Slovene Law Amendment about Banking (ZBan-1L), which is explicitly retroactively and fundamentally encroaching upon the rights of the holders of subordinate bonds of banks. He also emphasized that those preparing and making decisions in this process have said that the adoption of such law is, in spite of all convincing doubts, inevitable, because the European Commission insists on it, and the Commission is not willing to accept any negotiations, let alone allow any indulgence, therefore his debate was intended mostly for the representative of the European Commission for Internal Market and Services, Mr Carlos Marvall. You canwatch his answer and all other events in the EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT by clicking the photo above.

Otherwise VZMD representatives arrived to Vienna from Moscow where, immediately prior to the events in Vienna, the Russian-Slovene Business and Investment Forum took place in the framework of the visit of the Slovene business delegation, on the occasion of the visit of the Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Karel Erjavec to his Russian colleague Mr Sergey Lavrov. After the attention-grabbing international conference in Vienna, VZMD President departed for the South-African Cape Town, where the international conference Global KEN forum was concluded yesterday. As a EuroFinUse representative and as a representative of the World Federation of Investors (WFI)Mr Verbič presented the possibilities of cooperation in the field of investments, business contacts, research and education, primarily in the perspective of Invest to Slovenia and International Investors' Network programmes.

After this year's successful presentations in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Cape Town, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid,Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo and Zagreb, VZMD is pleased to invite all who would like to take part in the activities to contact VZMD investo.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail tratar@investo.si. 

This year's Global KEN Forum entitled »Promoting Innovation through Education and Research«began yesterday in the South African Cape Town with the opening speeches of the President of the international network Knowledge Economy Network (KEN) dr. Boris Cizelj, and the Minister of Science and Technology of the Republic of South Africa Mr Derek Hanekom.

After successful business meetings within the framework of the business delegation in Moscow, the international conference in Vienna and a business meeting in Dubai, the President of the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) Mr Kristjan Verbič has been, at the invitation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of South Africa, visiting Cape Town since Monday. At the Monday's evening reception, organised for the invited guests by the two organizers: International KEN network and the South African Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr Verbič met numerous international participants, and they all attended a meeting with some representatives of the Slovene business community in South Africa, at the invitation of a distinguished Slovene and international businessman Mr Štefan Bogdan Šalej (in the photo above, PHOTO by Michele La Trobe).

After last week's gala dinner in Schönbrunn Palace on Thursday, which took place after the General Assembly of the European Federation of Financial Services Users (EuroFinUse) in Villa Klimt, the International Conference entitled The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors" took place on Friday, and it was organised by EuroFinUse and the Austrian Association of Shareholders (IVA).

Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), which is one of the most active EuroFinUse members – VZMD President Mr Kristjan Verbič is also a member of the Board – has this time included among the panel speakers also a representative of the Slovene Insurance Business, Mr Benjamin Jošar, a member of Triglav Insurance Company Management Board, which is - along with 26 other business entities from Slovenia – included in the two international VZMD business-investment programmes: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net).

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia on Thursday, 10 October 2013, ratified and communicated, under an emergency procedure, for consideration to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, the Act Proposal regarding the Banking Law Amendment (ZBan-1L), which was in September in making at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia, and it explicitly retro-actively and drastically affects the rights of subordinate bond holders (hybrid instruments of the core capital, hybrid instruments of the supplementary capital, and non-hybrid instruments of the subordinated debt). It namely enables that these bonds turn into bank shares, or that they are even deleted, although these two possibilities have never been mentioned by the bonds prospects, approved by the Securities Market Agency (ATVP) as the accredited regulator and the regulator in charge. Apart from that, up to now there has never been any legal basis for the above mentioned two possibilities. On the contrary, in case of many of such bonds the prospect explicitly states that the holder of such bonds can be at a loss only if the issuing bank goes bankrupt.

Although at least two institutions, considered to be competent and therefore invited to prepare the expert opinion, have expressed serious doubts about the ZBan-1L law proposal compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia has communicated this Act Proposal to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Slovenian Government ratified the Act Proposal on its meeting on 10 October 2013, and then communicated the proposal to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for consideration under an emergency procedure. Different preparers and decision makers in these procedures have emphasized that the adoption of such law is inevitable, in spite of all the well-grounded doubts, because the European Commission insists on it, and it is not willing to accept any negotiations, let alone allow any indulgence. The justification for this law amendment also contains an explanation, namely that the Constitutional Controversy of ZBan-1L - in reference to both: retro-activity, as well as incompatibility with the existing legislation – is plain enough to »pass the rigorous test of proportionality«in front of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia. However, it is possible to have well-grounded doubts about this, due to various reasons:

Firstly, property represents a constitutional right, therefore any interference into it is constitutionally controversial.

Secondly, Law in Force regarding Measures of the Republic of Slovenia to Strengthen Bank Stability Act (ZUKSB) already defines measures for ensuring bank stability and the order in which their enforcement is to be carried out. The set of measures as well as the order of their implementation are, according to ZUKSB, completely different from ZBan-1L provisions.

Thirdly, measures anticipated by ZBan-1L are, in relation to their effects, equal to the two central measures of the compulsory settlement proceedings over a debtor company – a partial write-off of creditors' claims, and transformation of creditors' claims into equities of a debtor company. Compulsory Settlement of a Bank is explicitly forbidden in Article 318 of ZBan-1L .

Fourthly, the consequences of such an essential interference into the rights of holders of the instruments of subordinated debts would – contrary to what the authors of the legislation have been claiming, namely that the interference will not have long term system effects – cause an important change in the existing ways of bank financing, and this would be the case for all the Slovenian banks. Issuing instruments of the subordinated debt would thus – after the emergence of the until-then-non-existing risk that these instruments could be deleted or transformed into shares after the Arbitrary Judgement of the Bank of Slovenia, even if the issuing bank is insolvent – become very difficult (most probably even impossible to carry out in reality, because even before the introduction of this change, banks had to pay to the holders the annual interest rate of 6 – 9% for most subordinate instruments). This would be the consequence for all banks (therefore systemically) and without time limits (therefore long-term as well).

Thoughtless and constitutionally questionable measures on the level of solving EURO crisis do not represent anything new, neither do their cascade annulations at the Constitutional Courts. At the Portuguese Constitutional Court almost half of the measures of the so called »troika«introduced two years ago, have been annulated in the last two years, one of them two weeks ago, retro-active abolition of holiday bonus has not been approved by the Slovenian Constitutional Court as well.

Therefore VZMD's standpoint in this matter is that it would be inevitable to render possible a wide, expert, quality discussion concerning ZBan-1L and – if really necessary – adopt it in an adequately altered form, so that it would not cause additional difficulties and instabilities, or that it will make sense and that it will be realistic, balanced and in accordance with the Constitution. Besides that, Mr Kristjan Verbič is going to tell his colleagues from the European Associations and Institutions about these questionable and problematic proposals and procedures. Mr Verbič will have an opportunity to inform his European colleagues about this situation as VZMD President, as well as a member of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Financial Services Users (EuroFinUse) during the approaching International Conference »The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors«, which will take place on 18 October 2013 in Vienna (please click here FOR APPLICATIONS).

In VZMD we will be striving to achieve protection of rights and interest of investors (also bond investors), to establish appropriate mechanisms of supervision, regulation and standards, and we will also be trying to strengthen stability and trust into financial and capital markets – it is, namely, about the key factors, also in the perspective of our international business-investment programmes Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (invest-to.net) which brings together 55 national associations of shareholders and investors.

Intense preparations for three successive international events are taking place at the moment In the Pan-Slovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), which will actively participate at these events in the framework the two international business-investment programmes: Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and International Investors` Network (investo.international).

Within the visit of the Slovene business delegation to Russia and Azerbaijan on October 17, VZMD President Kristjan Verbič, MA, will be, together with some representatives of the Russian Association of Investors, attending »Slovene-Russian Business-Investment Forum«in Moscow, where many B2B meetings will also take place. On this occasion VZMD President and his Russian colleagues are going to sign a memorandum about the Slovene-Russian Business-Investment Conference, which is being prepared in Moscow within the framework of the World Federation of Investors (WFI).

After the programme in Moscow is finished, the business delegation is going to depart for Azerbaijan, which was already visited by VZMD team and business delegation in January this year (click on image to play EXCLUSIVE VIDEO NEWS COVERAGE), therefore VZMD representatives are going to head for Vienna, where the International Conference entitled "The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors" will take place. This conference has been organised by the European Federation of Financial Services Users (EuroFinUse), and the Austrian Association of Investment Management Companies. VZMD, which is one of the most active EuroFinUse members, has this time included among the conference panel speakers a representative of the Slovene Insurance Business – Mr. Benjamin Jošar, a board member of Triglav Insurance Company, d.d., which is, along with 26 other Slovene business entities, included in the two VZMD international business-investment programmes. If you would like to participate, you are welcome to submit your applications free of charge HERE.

As a member of EuroFinUse executive committee and as VZMD President, Mr. Verbič, MA, will be, at the invitation of the South-African Ministry of Science and Technology, from October 20 onwards, visiting South-African Cape Town, where he is going to actively participate at the International Conference Global KEN Forum, entitled »Promoting Innovation through Education and Research«(EXCLUSIVE VIDEO NEWS COVERAGE from the last year's KEN forum). Within the forum's framework, VZMD President will also carry out a presentation, and facilitate one of the thematic round-table discussions on the theme of »protection of small shareholders and individual investors.«

As always, suitable provisions will also be made this time, ensuring successful presentations of companies, institutions, and investment projects included in the two VZMD international business-investment programmes.

After this year's successful presentations in Astana, Almaty, Baku, Brussels, Bucharest, Vienna, Kiev, Ljubljana, Madrid, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo and Zagreb, VZMD is pleased to invite all who would like to take part in the activities to contact VZMD investo.si programme coordinator by phone 031 770 771, or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

All interested parties are welcome to submit their informational-promotional materials intended for presentations in Moscow, Vienna, and Cape Town. The deadline for submission is 1 pm, Friday, 11 October 2013.