NLB Spending EUR 77m on IT Upgrades in 2005 and 2006
Slovenia's largest bank, NLB, is to spend SIT 18.4m (EUR 77m) this year and the next for upgrades to its information technology system connected to the changeover to the euro, international accounting standards and Basel II capital-adequacy rules.
According to NLB board member Erik Luts, the bank is rapidly preparing for the adoption of the euro in Slovenia and new regulations on accounting and capital adequacy. As much as SIT 8.9bn (EUR 37.15m) is being spent this year for the necessary upgrades to the bank's IT system related to the changes, while a further SIT 9.5bn (EUR 39.65m) will be spent next year, Luts told the press in Ljubljana on Friday.
He said the bank's top priority is to get ready for the euro, which Slovenia plans to adopt in 2007. Although the total costs the bank will incur because of the changeover cannot be gauged yet, the head of the euro project at NLB Savo Dinjaski said that about 30% to 40% of the IT investments are being set aside for that purpose.
"The effects, foremost financial, of the changeover to the euro are expected to be negative in the initial stages," Dinjaski said. This is an extremely expensive and logistically demanding project, he added.
According to him, the NLB's preparations for the euro changeover are going well. He said that the bank has around 200 people working on the euro project at any one time.
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