No disruption to key processes; the Bank of Slovenia is also helping to draw up measures for bridging liquidity difficulties

The Bank of Slovenia has long felt that the coronavirus situation needs to be taken extremely seriously. Because our responsibilities include processes that are vital to the smooth functioning of the government and the whole country, we began working on various scenarios several weeks ago. We can therefore provide assurance that all key processes are working as intended, and will continue to do so even if the situation worsens.

At the same time we are aware of the situation in which society finds itself as the virus spreads. The Bank of Slovenia is involved in the preparation of legislation being drawn up by the government to help businesses, and is working on solutions for households. Within the ECB framework we have already responded to the situation with our first package of measures. 

Smooth functioning of all key processes

“At the Bank of Slovenia we are ensuring that there is no disruption to any key processes, like payment and settlement systems, and the supply of cash. We should reiterate that we are ready to ensure that all of these processes continue functioning, even if the situation worsens,” summarised Boštjan Vasle, Governor of the Bank of Slovenia.

This will ensure that all the key services of commercial banks and savings banks, with whom the public have most contact, can be provided without problems. The exception is certain changes to branch opening hours at banks and savings banks, which were made on a precautionary basis in order to protect the health of their staff and their customers. They are also calling for greater use of online solutions.

Preparation of measures for businesses and households

“At the Bank of Slovenia we are also aware of the liquidity difficulties that some businesses and households in Slovenia are already facing because of a loss of revenue,” reiterated Mr Vasle.

The Bank of Slovenia is involved in readying measures to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on businesses. The measures are being drawn up by the government, as they primarily involve urgent legislation. The main aim of the measures is bridging temporary liquidity difficulties for businesses. The Bank of Slovenia is striving to ensure that the measures also target the maintenance of financial stability in the country, and that banks and savings banks are able to continue providing financial intermediation services.

The Bank of Slovenia is committed to ensuring that the issue of liquidity difficulties faced by households is also addressed within the framework of the government measures. Thus any households who are unable to meet their liabilities to banks because of the crisis situation should contact their commercial bank or savings bank directly. In handling this issue they are obliged to act according to the principles of responsible lending.

Seeking solutions in collaboration with other central banks in the Eurosystem and within the Single Supervisory Mechanism

We are working with other central banks to find solutions, as banking supervision has largely been unified across the euro area since the last crisis. A growing number of countries are facing serious consequences from the spread of the virus, and therefore the most effective measures are those that will allow countries to act together.

In light of the urgency of taking action, the members of the Governing Council, of whom Mr Vasle is one, decided on a package of temporary additional measures at the last meeting, with the aim of safeguarding liquidity and credit conditions, and maintaining favourable financing conditions in times of heightened uncertainty. More information is available here.