TITLE: Slovenia's Central Bank Issues Supervisory Order Against Primorska Hranilnica Vipava for Governance and Interest Rate Risk Breaches
BODY:
On November 4, 2024, Banka Slovenije (the central bank of Slovenia) issued a supervisory order against Primorska hranilnica Vipava d.d., a savings bank registered in Vipava, Slovenia, for breaches of governance and interest rate risk management requirements.
The order identified four principal breaches under the Banking Act (ZBan-3) and related regulations. First, the savings bank failed to establish a separate asset-liability management or treasury function as its first line of defence, with treasury tasks instead performed by the risk management division. This arrangement violated segregation of powers requirements and created potential conflicts of interest between the first and second lines of defence. Second, the savings bank's exposure to interest rate risk exceeded internally set limits, and it failed to predetermine measures to address limit breaches. Third, the internal audit department conducted insufficient reviews of interest rate risk—a material risk subject to recent regulatory changes—and performed deficient audits of the internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP), failing to provide objective assessments to the management body and audit committee. The breaches violated the Banking Act, Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the internal governance regulation, and European Banking Authority guidelines on interest rate risk management.
The savings bank was required to submit a detailed action plan by December 31, 2024, and to rectify all breaches by December 31, 2025, with a compliance report due January 15, 2026. On February 24, 2026, Banka Slovenije confirmed that the savings bank had successfully remedied all identified breaches. No judicial review proceedings were initiated against the order.