Contracts with consultancy firms were necessary for establishing and launching the operations of the bad bank, BAMC representatives told a press conference in Ljubljana.

Non-executive director Lars Nyberg put the figure in perspective, saying that stress tests in eight Slovenian banks carried out by three international consultancies cost more than EUR 20m.

Since the international credibility of the Slovenian banking sector was very low, the bank needed international consultancies in order to get the green light from Brussels for the transfer of toxic assets from the NLB and NKBM banks, according to Nyberg.

He said that the annual costs of DUTB are expected to reach EUR 5m this year and around EUR 10m next year, adding that consultancy costs will be reduced significantly and be limited to IT services.

Non-executive director Carl-Johan Lindgren noted that BAMC has already saved the state more than EUR 100m as the yield on the Slovenian benchmark bond has decreased significantly following the December bailout carried out by means of the bad bank.

BAMC and its consultancy contracts have been under media scrutiny lately after it was revealed that one of the contractors is Quartz+Co., which used to be managed by the current acting BAMC executive director Torbjörn Mansson.

The business daily Finance meanwhile reported that BAMC decided last week to restructure a total of EUR 150m in loans owed to banks by publisher DZS. One of the conditions is appointment of a crisis manager and prohibition of additional exposure to DZS with financing or guarantees.

Loans have been reportedly extended to the end of 2016 and DZS will have to reduce its debt by EUR 10m every year. All creditor banks are expected to sign the agreement by the end of the month.