According to the report, Senica will stay on as vice-chairman, and will be responsible for corporate banking.

Denhof, an Apollo consumer banking professional who most recently worked at Citibank Singapore, is to be primarily responsible for sales. His appointment is pending approval by the European Central Bank.

The bank would not comment on the report, but Večer says that it may make the news official as early as this afternoon.

The NKBM management board is to be expanded to five members; apart from Denhof and Senica it also includes Sabina Župec Kranjc, Jonathan Charles Locke, who is responsible for risk management, and Josef Gröblacher as chief operating officer.

NKBM was acquired last year by US private equity fund Apollo and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The purchase money of EUR 250m was transferred in April, when the new owners took over.