Regulatory Compliance

We provided advisory support to a well-known French bank regarding the possibility of entrusting certain operations of the bank to its related parties or independent service providers in Serbia or abroad. Our main task was to examine the possibility of entrusting activities that do not belong to the main activities of the bank, but rather represent support for such activities. In other words, it was necessary to examine the possibility of establishing a business model of the bank that would enable the direct performance of only its main activities.

We advised a renowned Italian bank on regulatory conditions for digitization of certain services. The purpose of this project was to examine the possibility of making physical presence of clients in bank branches unnecessary and optional through digitization of banking services.

We analysed regulatory requirements for the separation and sale of a part of the bank’s operations, i.e. its business activity performed in the field of payment transactions. As this is regulated area of business that is subject to the control of the National Bank of Serbia, the challenge was to design the transaction model and fit the fulfilment of a whole series of regulatory requirements with the planned dynamics of the transaction.

The domestic bank hired us to assess the degree of compliance of its operations with the relevant regulations. This service included the implementation of a comprehensive analysis and preparation of a report on regulatory compliance with recommendations of activities that need to be taken to eliminate the observed deficiencies, and preparation of an action plan for the implementation of such activities.

We advised a large Russian company on regulatory requirements related to the construction of a gas pipeline through Serbia. Within this advisory engagement, we performed a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of regulations in the fields of energy, planning and construction, property matters, environmental matters, foreign exchange operations, insurance, occupational safety and numerous other regulations, which included providing advice on corporate establishment, financing and management.

For the needs of the domestic oil company, we performed an analysis of the pricing policy from the perspective of regulations governing the protection of competition, which included the implementation of the concerned analysis both from the perspective of national legislation and European legislation. Since it was a company with a dominant position on the relevant markets of almost all products it trades, the economic justification and legal permissibility of the applied pricing policy had to be analysed and reasoned in detail. On this project, we worked closely with the leading Romanian law firm in the field of competition protection, as well as with consultants from the economic sphere.

We analysed the regulatory requirements related to the construction of the industrial and technological park, which entailed a detailed analysis of the regulations pertaining to industrial and free zones, requirements and opportunities for obtaining state aid, construction of facilities, but also an analysis of a wide range of laws and regulations that regulate the production of numerous and various products.

We provided advisory support to a well-known Chinese company in relation to the preparation of complete contractual documentation for the planned motorway construction concession. Our engagement included commenting on the concession contract and all accompanying agreements, as well as proposing alternative solutions in accordance with the client’s business interests. Within this task, we cooperated with German lawyers who specialize in concessions and public-private partnerships.

We advised a well-known Austrian oil company regarding the possibility of implementing a specific model of cross-border cashless payments and collections related to trade with goods and services. It was necessary to ensure applicability of the model that entailed deferred payments of goods and services, and numerous cross-border assignments, takeovers, claims and debts and their settlement.

We advised a renowned manufacturer of sports equipment on regulatory requirements that must be met to carry out retail activities on the Serbian market. Our analysis concerned regulations on retail operations, regulations pertaining to the goods themselves, their import and market placement, product labels and storage, as well as regulations related to sales facilities, i.e., their necessary technical characteristics and regulations pertaining to retail employees.