The new bank will officially start doing business when the merger of Banka Celje and Abanka Vipa is registered in Slovenia’s court register. Its name will be Abanka. Once the merger is official, Banka Celje will effectively cease to function as an independent legal entity and all of its rights and responsibilities will pass on to Abanka as its legal successor. The full integration, also regarding the banks’ information technology, is to be completed by the end of next year.

The headquarters of the bank will be in Ljubljana and the president of the management of the new bank will be the current head of Abanka, Jože Lenič. Mr. Lenič assures that nothing will change for the clients of both banks. The new bank will mostly focus on doing business with citizens and with small and medium-large sized companies. "Abanka will ensure a long-term capital gain and become interesting for future investors," announced Lenič.

"The merger process of Abanka and Banka Celje is a key step towards consolidating Slovenia’s banking system. The ultimate goal is to confirm and enable a sustainable and stable growth to the country’s banking system," is how Central Bank Governor, Boštjan Jazbec, commented the merger.