The National Bank of Serbia’s Administration for Supervision of Financial Institutions has approved MetLife’s application to transfer a portion of its life insurance portfolio to the joint-stock insurance company Wiener Stadtische osiguranje.
The approval was granted on January 17, 2014, and the portfolio transfer is effective as of December 31, 2013.
JPM Finance Senior Partner Jelena Gazivoda and Partners Aleksandar Hadzic and Nikola Dordevic supported MetLife in the transaction.
JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic has announced the January 28, 2014 signing of a new cooperation agreement with the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade.
Johannes Eigner, the Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, and Nikola Jankovic, Senior Partner at JPM, thereby formally announced the continuation of their now-20 year relationship, which began in 1991 when the Austrian Embassy began taking advantage of JPM’s German-language capabilities. Under the new agreement, Mr. Jankovic remains the Austrian Embassy’s “attorney of trust”, and will continue advising the Embassy in all legal matters.
The Serbian Arbitration Association (SAA) has announced the founding of the Belgrade Arbitration Center (BAC), which started operating in January, 2014 as the first arbitration institution in Serbia not established by the State.
The BAC will hear arbitrations both with and without foreign parties (the two existing arbitration institutions in Serbia, both of which are attached to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, divide jurisdiction in this manner between them). Also, unlike the Permanent Court of Arbitration attached to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, which can per law administer only disputes that arise between its members, BAC is an “open” arbitration forum, and has no such restrictions. The BAC will be the first arbitration institution in Serbia not to mandate arbitrators, as parties are free to choose whomever they want to (subject to confirmation of the BAC Board).
The Serbian Arbitration Association currently consists of over 60 members, including attorneys from over 20 law offices, multiple university professors, and lawyers with expertise in domestic and international arbitration. Gaso Knezevic is serving as the first President of the BAC, with Vladimir Pavic the Vice-President. The SAA Board of Directors includes, among others, Attorneys Nikola Jankovic (from JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic) and Mirsolav Paunociv, Milena Dordevic and Dragor Hiber (both on the Faculty of Law at Belgrade University), and Maja Stanivukovic (on the Faculty of Law at Novi Sad University).
JPM Jankovic Popovic Mitic has announced that senior lawyer Nikola Poznanovic was made a Partner in the firm on February 1, 2014.
Poznanovic specializes on Corporate, M&A, Banking & Finance and Competition. He graduated from the University of Belgrade in 2004 and obtained a Master’s degree in European Law from the University of Nancy in France. He joined JPM in 2005.
The Jankovic Popovic & Mitic Competiton team has provided legal support to Microsoft in obtaining clearance from the Serbian Commission for Competition for its purchase of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services.
The JPM team was headed by Partner Milica Subotic and Senior Lawyer Nikola Poznanovic.