At its August 13 session, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) Banking Board greenlighted the transfer of the bad loans held by state bank IRB to Konsolidačná Banka, a clearing house for the non-performing loans of Slovak state banks. IRB will be thus relieved of the cheap loans it provided for socialist-era housing development and the building of the Mochovce nuclear power plant, clearing the way for the bank's sale to a foreign strategic investor.
The Finance Ministry had requested that the NBS approve the transfer based on a government resolution from June 23, 1999 concerning the settlement of IRB's situation. IRB was placed under a caretaker administration in 1997 for liquidity problems.
