The National Bank of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Serbia enabled activities on the capital market to unfold unhindered even under extraordinary circumstances, and we expect a gradual return to focusing on the further development of the market to come with the gradual easing of geopolitical tensions
The Serbian capital market has reached a certain level of development, but it seems that – after the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent outbreak of the war in Ukraine – it has reached a certain stagnation. That is certainly largely a consequence of local market actors being oriented towards measures aimed at eliminating the damaging effects of these crisis events spilling over onto their operations, which led to a shift of focus, to a certain extent, away from innovation and development and towards maintaining the existing level of performance.
The NBS [Serbia’s central bank] and the Government of the Republic of Serbia enabled activities on the capital market to unfold unhindered as much as possible even under these extraordinary circumstances, and we expect the gradual easing of geopolitical tensions to lead to a gradual return to focusing on the further development of the market.
The period ahead should see greater emphasis placed on educating market participants with regard to the basic characteristics of interest rate swaps and their advantages and risks
Here it is expected, first and foremost, that market actors will start conducting transactions to a greater extent with financial derivatives that protect them from the risk of rising interest rates, so-called interest rate swaps.
In this area, agreement has already been reached with the NBS that, in the period ahead, greater emphasis will be placed on educating market participants with regard to the basic characteristics of these products and their advantages and risks. It is likewise expected that REPO [repurchase agreement] transactions, which are now already traditionally conducted between private banks and the NBS, will be gradually expanded to encompass other subjects. As such, it is to be expected that greater demand for this type of product among businesses would also lead to the further development of the regulatory framework that would support these transactions.