The Process of Mergers And Acquisitions – a Way For Higher Concentration in the Banking Sector

Serbia has started transition of its financial system in 2000 and until 2008 the first phase of transition is finished. The national financial system became of bancocentric character, with very week insurance, leasing,innovative institutions, funds and financial markets. The main step ahead made banking system, whichrecovered credit and saving functions, with high capitalization, high interest rates and interest margins,but with low efficiency and low level of its concentration. If look at the process of mergers and acquisition in Serbian banking system one can recognized two episodes. The first wave of mergers was happened in 2005-2006, when more than one dozen of banks changed ownership structure, both state owned and private ones. As a result of this first wave the ownership structure of banking sector became completely different with three fourth of banks in foreign hands, like in other transitory economies. Although the transition of all banks is not finished before the Global economic crisis came, and a lot of economists expected the new wave of mergers and acquisition, the crisis phase was rather not seen as right time for doing this. With general economic recovery started in 2015 it seems that there were some steps forward in this regard. Some banks left the national market because of their own problems (Greek, Belgian, French), some banks were lost their licenses. In recent period several banks were acquired and it seems that the general picture is changed, with 20 banks all in all, with increasing concentration of the sector. One has to be aware of still high potential of national banking system for development. In other words, total volume of bank’s crediting is still on the low level, measuring their share in GDP. Although the national banking system became profitable from 2005 on, the profitability is still low. Total capital of banks is also too low, and on the microeconomic level (considering a bank as a single company) the capital of average bank is too small by international standards. It is also worth noting that banks during last several years considerably lowered the share of nonperforming loans, NPLs, due to measures introduced by the Central bank and by its own. The share of NPLs in the total portfolio of Serbian banks is now even lower than in comparison to the pre- crisis period. In the future firstly, there is a need for further concentration of the national banking system. Secondly, considering a banco-centric character of the national financial system there is a room for additional changings, which the Central bank as the main regulator can introduce. A process of liberalization of banking system is one of the important issues, as it is necessary to open room for new players, like micro credit institutions and saving companies and cooperatives, and especially for new innovative hi-tech institutions. The aim of the paper is threefold. Firstly, to measure the level of concentration of the national banking system, with intention to point a need for further process of mergers and acquisitions. Secondly, to point differences in two waves of M&E, which produces sharp discrepancies in the prices of acquired banks. Thirdly, to suggest further necessary market reforms in the national financial system. The paper is based on the results of the process of mergers and acquisitions of banks in Serbia with reference to the period since 2000, both in the period before and after Covid-19. During the pandemic (2019-2021) and after, larger banks increased the level of liquidity and decreased the level of credit activity compared to smaller banks operating in Serbia. Nevertheless, the profitability of larger banks in Serbia remained at a high level compared to smaller banks. Larger banks in the pre- and post-pandemic period achieve higher rates of return on capital compared to smaller competitors. In the same period, larger banks reduced the share of capital in the balance sheet, but within limits that do not threaten the stability of the banking sector. Also, large banks have opportunities when it comes to reducing costs, through digitalization, and achieve higher rates of profitability, but also lower passive interest rate

On the number of contacts of a floating polymer chain cross-linked with a surface adsorbed chain on fractal structures

We study the interaction problem of a linear polymer chain, floating in fractal containers that belong to the three-dimensional Sierpinski gasket (3D SG) family of fractals, with a surface-adsorbed linear polymer chain. Each member of the 3D SG fractal family has a fractal impenetrable 2D adsorbing surface, which appears to be 2D SG fractal. The two-polymer system is modelled by two mutually crossing self-avoiding walks. By applying the Monte Carlo Renormalization Group (MCRG) method, we calculate the critical exponents $\phi$, associated with the number of contacts of the 3D SG floating polymer chain, and the 2D SG adsorbed polymer chain, for a sequence of SG fractals with $2\le b\le 40$. Besides, we propose the codimension additivity (CA) argument formula for $\phi$, and compare its predictions with our reliable set of the MCRG data. We find that $\phi$ monotonically decreases with increasing $b$, that is, with increase of the container fractal dimension. Finally, we discuss the relations between different contact exponents, and analyze their possible behaviour in the fractal-to-Euclidean crossover region $b\to\infty$.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Dental Hypersensitivity as a Consequence of the Initial Course of Periodontal Treatment

Preosjetljivost dentina često je i bolno patološko stanje koje se javlja kao posljedica različitih provokacijskih čimbenika. Dentinska preosjetljivost očituje se kratkom i jakom boli koja se javlja u području ogoljela dentina kao odgovor na tipične stimuluse, kao što su: toplotni, evaporativni, taktilni, osmotski, ili kemijski, a koji se ne mogu pripisati ni jednom drugom obliku dentalnoga defekta ili dentalne patologije. (Addy M, 2002). To patološko stanje još uvijek nije potpuno razjašnjeno, ali ga treba razlikovati od boli kod zubnoga karijesa, boli kod oštećenih zuba, frakturiranih restauracija, nedovoljnoga zubnog zatvora te palatogingivnih fisura i udubina. Jedina sličnost s dentinskom preosjetljivošću jest osjetljivost zuba koja se javlja nakon profesionalne inicijalne parodontalne terapije. Čestoća dentinske preosjetljivosti varira od 3 - 57% (Verzak Ž et al. 1998, Ress JS 2000), a preosjetljivost u sklopu parodontalnih bolesti može doseći znantno veći postotak (72 - 98% (Chabanski MB et al 1996). U studiju je bilo uključeno 60 slučajno odabranih pacijenata, liječenih na klinikama našega fakulteta. Pacijenti su podijeljeni u 4 skupine prema stanju parodontalnog zdravlja. Dentalna preosjetljivost bila je ispitana s pomoću taktilne osjetljivosti, osjetljivosti na hladan zrak i vodu, prije i poslije inicijalnog parodontalnog tretmana, koji je obavljen ultrazvukom. Stupanj boli izražavan je vrijednošću od 0 - 3 (0- nema boli, 1 - blaga osjetljivost, 2 - umjerena osjetljivost, 3 - jaka bol. Preosjetljivost zuba bila je najizražene bez obzira na vrstu provokacijskoga čimbenika bol postupno smanjivala krajem prvoga tjedna. Upotreba ultrazvuka u terapiji parodontalnih bolesti može izazvti preosjetljivost zuba. Služeći se različitim provokacijskim čimbenicima utija ako se kao provokacijski čimbenik upotrebljavao hladan zrak. Također je ustanovljeno da svrdili smo da je hladan zrak izazivao naj jaču osjetljivost. Bol se obično javljala neposredno nakon uporabe ultrazvuka, ali je trajanje boli bilo razmjerno kratko.Dentin hypersensitivity is a common and painful condition, wich can occur on different kinds of provocation factors. Dental hypersensitivitiy is characterized by short sharp pain arising from exposed dentine in response to stimuli typically thermal, evaporative, tactile, osmotic or chemical and wich cannot be ascribed to any other form of dental defect or pathology (Addy M, 2002). Until today this pathological condition is still unclear but should be deffered from dental caries, chipped teeth, fractured restorations, marginal leakage around restoration, palatogingival fissures and grooves. The only similarity to the dentin hypersensitivity is teeth sensitivity, wich follows the professional initial course of periodontal therapy. The frequency of dentin hypersensitivity varies from 3 - 57% (Verzak Ž et al, 1998, Ress JS 2000), while sensitivity in periodontal diseases could reach a higher percentage: 72-98% (Chabanski MB et al 1996). 60 randomly selected patients from our Clinic were included in the study. All patients were divided into 4 groups according to the grade of pathological periodontal condition. Dental hypersensitivity was investigated by tactile and by cold air/water provocation factors before and after initial periodontal treatment using ultrsound scaling. Pain was scored by 0 - 3 scoring system ( 0 - no pain, 1 - mild pain, 2 - moderate pain, 3 - severe pain). Teeth hypersensitivity was most pronounced if cold air was used as the provocative factor. Regardless of the sort of provocative factor the pain subsided gradually within one week. Ultrasound usage in periodontal treatment may cause teeth hypersensitivity. The hypersensitivity was provoked by mechanical od psysical provocative factors. The most painful sensation was related to cold air. The pain started early after treatment and lasted for a relatively short period of time

Policy and Mechanism in Adaptive Protocols

Adaptive protocols are protocols which automatically adjust their behavior to runtime phenomena such as traffic or link characteristics. For such protocols, the behavioral adjustment is accomplished with some mechanism; the decision as to how much (if any) adjustment is needed is made under control of a policy. Design and implementation of policies has often proven more challenging than that of mechanisms. We make three contributions in this paper. First, we develop a rule of thumb for policy/ mechanism separation and lay out a general set of challenges in policy module design. Second, as an illustration, we have analyzed a Forward-Error Correcting Code (FEC) for ATM supporting TCP/IP, and analytically identified a small robust set of tunable parameters to delineate regions where the code should be applied. Third, we exploited the analytic results and policy/mechanism separation to implement an adaptive protocol for network errors using programmable hardware to obtain high performance. Measurements of TCP/IP traffic over a 155 Mbps ATM link augmented with two cooperating Programmable Protocol Processing Pipelines were made with ttcp. The new policy module improves through-put by up to 50% over an unaugmented TCP/IP in the face of increasing bit errors rates, and continue operation into a range of bit error rates where an unmodified TCP practically ceases to function

Assessment of the Patient\u27s Education and Motivation in the Maintaince of Oral Hygiene

Zadovoljavajuća oralna higijena je conditio sine qua non u prevenciji karijesa i parodontnih bolesti. Prihvaćanje informacija za održavanje oralne higijene ovisi o više čimbenika među kojima su: pacijentova dob, stupanj naobrazbe, inteligencija, druπtveno-ekonomski status itd. Prijašnje studije su utvrdile da se gotovo 50% ljudi u održavanju oralne higijene služi samo četkicom (Karihovski B et al., 2001). Malendijk B et al 1995. Koivusilt A et al. 2003, pokazali su da ljudi s nižim stupnjem naobrazbe rijetko ili nikako ne čiste svoje zube. Ukupno 117 slučajno odabranih pacijenata koji su liječeni na klinikama Stomatološkog fakulteta uključeno je u ovu studiju. Svi pacijenti su uredno ispunili upitnik koji je posebno pripremljen za tu prigodu. Najveći dio pacijenata u našoj studiji imali su visoku i srednju školsku naobrazbu (33,3%, odnosno 43,6%). Visok postotak ispitanika već je prije dobio upute kako održavati oralnu higijenu i to od: stomatologa i medija 63,8%, stomatologa i laika 54,6%, dok je stomatolog sa stomatološkom sestrom bio zastupljen u 47 % slučajeva. Više od 61% ispitanika smatra da je dobilo dovoljno uputa u održavanju oralne higijene i da ih nije potrebno ponavljati. Ispitanici su upotrebljavali samo četkicu za zube u održavanju higijene usta u 50% slučajeva. Najveći broj pacijenata koristio se je četkicom dva puta na dan (79,5%), a četkicu pacijenti najčešće mijenjaju unutar tri mjeseca. U slučaju kada nastane neki stomatološki problem jedna četvrtina pacijenata odgađa intervenciju. Dobiveni su rezultati pokazali da je održavanje oralne higijene u naših pacijenata bilo na zadovoljavajućem stupnju. Ovakav rezultat mogao bi proizlaziti iz visoke opće razine naobrazbe naših ispitanika i iz već prije dobivenih naputaka kako održavati oralnu higijenu.Good oral hygiene is conditio sine qua non in prevention of dental caries and periodontal diseases. The acceptance of obtained information related to maintain good oral hygiene depends on several factors such as: age, educational level, personal skill, socioeconomic level etc. Previous studies revealed that almost 50 % of the general population use a toothbrush only to maintain their oral hygiene (Karihovski B et al., 2001). Malendijk B et al 1995, Koivulsit A et al., 2003, showed that people with a lower level of general education very rarely, or not at all, brush their teeth. A total of 117 randomly selected patients who attend the Clinics at our Faculty was enrolled in our study. All of them agreed to fulfill the questionaire designed by the investigators. The majority of our patients were highly educated (high school and university degree; 33.3 % and 43.6% respectively). A high percentage of the investigated patients were already educated in oral hygiene through their dentist and media (63.8%), dentist and non-preofessionals (54.6%) and dentist and dental nursing stuff in 47% of cases. A relatively high percentage (61.5%) of the investigated patients consider that there is no need for additional instructions related to oral hygiene. More than 50% of our cases only use toothbrush in their oral hygiene. The frequency of brushing the teeth was twice daily in the majority of the investigated patients, while replacements of an old toothbrush with a new one within a period of 3 months was in 79.5% of cases. One quater of the investigated patients who suffer from some kind of dental problem do not ask immediately for dental intervention. Our results have shown that the level of maintenanace of oral hygiene is rather high. Such results could be related to the high level of general education of the subjects enrolled in the study, and previously obtained education in oral hygiene

Hamiltonian walks on Sierpinski and n-simplex fractals

We study Hamiltonian walks (HWs) on Sierpinski and $n$--simplex fractals. Via numerical analysis of exact recursion relations for the number of HWs we calculate the connectivity constant $\omega$ and find the asymptotic behaviour of the number of HWs. Depending on whether or not the polymer collapse transition is possible on a studied lattice, different scaling relations for the number of HWs are obtained. These relations are in general different from the well-known form characteristic of homogeneous lattices which has thus far been assumed to hold for fractal lattices too.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures; final versio

Orthogonality conditions and asymptotic stability in the Stefan problem with surface tension

We prove nonlinear asymptotic stability of steady spheres in the two-phase Stefan problem with surface tension. Our method relies on the introduction of appropriate orthogonality conditions in conjunction with a high-order energy method.Comment: 25 pages, important references added, two remarks added, typos correcte