According to Finance, the Serbian National Bank withdrew the clearance after finding several irregularities at the bank owned by Serb tycoon Miodrag Kostić.

Meanwhile, Delo reports that Andrej Andoljšek had tendered his resignation as Gorenjska Banka chairman on Monday morning, allegedly because he would not want to be on the team of the Serb tycoon.

Delo reported earlier that the Serbian central bank had already notified its Slovenian counterpart of the alleged irregularities found at AIK Banka, but the Slovenian central bank would not comment on the matter.

It is not clear whether the vote on the sale of Sava's stake in Gorenjska Banka to AIK Banka will still go ahead at today's meeting.

Sava is selling the stake because it has been ordered to do so by Slovenia's central bank. Its major shareholders are the Luxembourg-based York Fund (41%) and the state-owned Sovereign Holding and KAD fund with a combined 45% stake.

AIK Banka officially owns a 20.99% stake in Gorenjska Banka. In mid-December it published an intent to take over Gorenjska Banka, but then failed to publish a bid by the prescribed deadline.

Gorenjska banka is one of the most successful and profitable Slovenian banks and the only major bank to do without a state-supplied capital injection in 2013 despite a significant capital shortfall.

It had a market share of assets of 4.7% at the end of September 2017, totalling EUR 1.73bn, which makes it the seventh largest bank in Slovenia.

Sava is part of a consortium selling a 55% stake in Gorenjska Banka. The group also includes the Bank Assets Management Company, insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav and Abanka.