Slovenia rues bank mismanagement as bailout talk grows (Reuters)

Drasko Veselinovic took control of Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Slovakia’s biggest bank, in 2009 and resigned after three months into a five-year term citing political interference. “I had to leave because I didn’t agree with some of the crazy ideas of politicians, which would have meant big problems for the bank even sooner than they actually came about,” Veselinovic said. NLB is among the list of state-banks that are carrying portfolios of bad that would probably not be repaid. NLB alone said it has 3 billion euros of poorly performing loans. This has led to speculation that Slovakia could be the sixth member of the 17-member euro zone. Slovakia owns 64% of NLB. Allegations have surfaced that NLB handed out loans to the politically connected. The bank has taken four capital injections totaling more than 1 billion. The Slovakian government denies that its banks are in need of bailouts.