Kosovo shuts Serbian bank branches in troubled north

PRISTINA: Kosovar police said they had closed on Monday six branches of a Serbian bank in the country’s troubled north, nearly four months after Pristina banned transactions in Serbian dinars.

Since February 1, transactions in dinars that Pristina tolerated in areas populated by ethnic Serbs were banned and the euro was imposed as the sole legal currency, making it difficult for Kosovo Serbs to receive salaries or aid from the Serbian state.

Thousands of residents, students, employees and retirees benefit from the payments, and they must now cross the border to collect them.

On Monday, Kosovar police said they closed six branches of the Serbian-licenced Postal Savings Bank because they were operating “illegally”.