AikBank Serbia Mandatory Reserves Coverage (MIGA-15515)

Countries
  • Serbia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Nov 14, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
AIKGROUP (CY) LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 404.08 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 344.4
Converted using 2025-10-01 exchange rate.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 404.08 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 344.4
Converted using 2025-10-01 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ MIGA website

Updated in EWS Oct 3, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Oct 1, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, MIGA's guarantee covers equity investments (including retained earnings) by AIKGROUP (CY) LIMITED domiciled in Cyprus in its subsidiary in Serbia, AikBank akcionarsko drustvo Beograd (AikBank Serbia), covering expropriation of funds of mandatory reserves maintained by AikBank Serbia with the National Bank of Serbia. The MIGA guarantee is expected to provide regulatory capital relief to AikGroup on a consolidated level by reducing the amount of Risk Weighted Assets (RWAs). The tenor of the guarantee is expected to be up to 3 years.

The aim of MIGA's guarantee is to help AikGroup reduce the risk-weighting of some of its assets, which would lead to a reduction in AikGroup's Risk-Weighted Assets (RWA) on a consolidated basis. As reserves held by the National Bank of Serbia attract lower risk weights as a result of the MIGA guarantee, the RWA capacity that is freed up is expected to support AikBank Serbia's lending operations in key development areas such as climate activities, MSMEs including women-MSMEs, as well as underserved populations, and demonstrate the importance of adopting inclusive business models.

MSMEs are the backbone of the Serbian economy, contributing to value addition, and accounting for two thirds of formal business sector employment. Despite their critical role, MSMEs continue to face significant constraints to accessing finance in the country. Although financing for climate-focused projects is rising steadily, private sector participation in climate action financing remains limited. Therefore, this Project is expected to support increased access to finance for MSMEs, climate initiatives, as well as other underserved populations, and enhance the overall contribution of these segments to the Serbian economy.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

AikBank Serbia provides financial products and services to individuals, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and corporates in Serbia. The MIGA guarantee will support lending for climate, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and underserved populations. These transactions are mostly considered to have limited environmental and social (E&S) risks or impacts that are generally site-specific, reversible, and can be managed through mitigation measures. Transactions or projects with significant adverse E&S risks and impacts are expected to be limited. The project has thus been categorized as FI-2 in accordance withMIGA's Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability (2013).

The main E&S risks of this project relate to AikBank Serbia's ability to identify, assess, and manage the E&S risks and impacts associated with its lending activities and the management of labor matters.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

MIGA's guarantee covers equity investments (including retained earnings) by the bank. The tenor of the guarantee is expected to be up to 3 years.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

AikGroup is one of the largest banking and financial services groups in the Southeastern Europe region. Its subsidiary banks outside of Cyprus are required to maintain reserves at the central banks in their respective jurisdictions. Mandatory reserves in AikBank Serbia contribute to AikGroup's overall RWA at the consolidated level, resulting in less headroom for other productive assets for a given level of capital.

AikBank is a commercial bank based in Belgrade, Serbia. 

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - AikBank akcionarsko društvo Beograd (AikBank Serbia) Subsidiary -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://www.miga.org/contact/access_to_information

You can also request general information about MIGA and for information on guarantees by emailing: migainquiry@worldbank.org

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works