Medja told the press that he had tendered his resignation because of differences of opinion with the owner of the bank, the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) led by Marko Jazbec.

Medja, who was appointed in the autumn of 2012 for a five-year term, said he was "leaving the bank in a stable state, with excellent results and good trends".

The 43-year-old manager, who oversaw the late-2013 bailout and the subsequent painful financial and organisational restructuring of the bank, said his goals had been cleaning up the credit portfolio, restoring the bank's reputation, clients' trust and employees' pride, and improving business results.

"I can say today that NLB reached all the goals that were set down just over three years ago," Medja said.

Because discrepancies occurred in the recent period between his views and the views of some of those representing the state, he proposed a mutually agreed departure, which the supervisors accepted, added Medja, who did not take questions from the press.

Medja had been under fire from the very start of his term and faced accusations of profligacy over his company car, the hiring of a headhunting agency, and an outsourcing contract for the analysis of bad loans.

He repeatedly claimed he was being attacked by virtue of his office, which is considered one of the most powerful corporate positions in the country.

After massive losses and the 2013 bailout, NLB returned to profit in 2014 and is expected to post solid figures for 2015; in the first nine months group net profit surged 62% year-on-year to EUR 77.7m.