NKBM said that the supervisors will discuss Hauc's resignation proposal on Friday and that a statement for the press could be expected later today.

While the supervisors were notified of Hauc's absence on 28 January, the bank said the management had been fully operational, rejecting speculations of a management crisis after media reported that Hauc had been absent for several months.

NKBM said the remaining two board members Robert Senica, named his deputy by Hauc, and Sabina Župec Kranjc were adopting decisions jointly and had divided Hauc's responsibilities between them.

Hauc took over the helm of NKBM in April 2012, heading the state-owned bank during difficult post-slump times in which it had to be recapitalised by the state several times.

Due to the extensive state aid, Slovenia had to commit to privatising the bank by the end of this year. The process, which is in its final stage, is managed by the Slovenia Sovereign Holding.

Unofficially, non-binding bids have been submitted by Hungarian bank OZP and the financial fund Apollo.

According to unaudited results, NKBM posted a group net profit of EUR 23.3m for 2014, the first year after the state-sponsored bailout, which compared to the pre-bailout loss of nearly EUR 650m in the year before.

The core bank posted a much higher net profit, almost EUR 36m, while two leasing arms that are in the process of bring wound down generated a combined loss of EUR 9.5m.