Banks still conducting payment transactions with NIS, petrol stations well supplied

BELGRADE - Banks are still conducting regular payment transactions with Serbia's Russian-majority owned oil firm NIS and the company's petrol stations are well-supplied, Tanjug learns.

NIS is under US sanctions.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday the NIS oil refinery would officially halt operations on Tuesday unless the US granted the company an operating licence, and announced an important meeting on ways to solve future problems would be held on Monday as he did not believe the US side would make a decision on a licence by that time.

Earlier, Vucic said that, due to potential secondary sanctions, banks could stop doing business with NIS unless it obtained a licence by December 1.

On November 25, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced on Tuesday that, in order to preserve the stability of the country's financial system, it would suspend payment transactions with NIS unless it received an operating licence.

The Association of Serbian Banks also announced at the time that, in collaboration with the NBS, all commercial banks would halt payment transactions with NIS if no licence was granted.