Background and purpose: The goal of the paper is to determine the level of concentration in the insurance sector in the following eight countries of South and Eastern Europe: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania in the period from 2007 to 2012.Design/Methodology/Approach: In this context, the analysed indicators of concentration were the market share of the four leading financial institutions (CR4), the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), the coefficient of entropy (E), the coefficient of relative entropy (RE) and Gini coefficient (G).Results: The study showed that the insurance sectors in the analysed countries are highly concentrated on average (according to CR4 indicator), medium concentrated (according to HHI) with high levels of inequality of distribution of market shares between individual participants (in terms of G coefficient), and in the zone of relative uniformity and equality of business entities (according to RE coefficient). The research results point out that the existence of different levels of correlation between the analysed indicators of concentration in the insurance sector, which confirms the conclusion that, in order to obtain relevant and quality conclusions about the level of concentration, it is necessary to review and analyse several indicators of concentration integrally.Conclusion: In all observed indicators of concentration in relation with the density level GDP pc move in the zone of very low value, which on the one hand points to the fact that the analysed countries at a relatively similar level of development have significantly different levels of concentration, but also on the fact that some countries although at different levels of development, have similar levels of concentration.

The purpose of the paper work is to determine on the basis of empirical research, if there is a relation between the level of concentration and competitiveness within banking sector of chosen countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Albania. The level of concentration is measured by applying the concentration ratio of five big banks (CR5) and Herfindal-Hirschman index (HH index) in the period from 2007 to 2012 for the following banks' balance items: assets, approved loans and collected deposits. On the basis of received results, the research shows that there is no relation between the level of concentration and level of competitiveness. Furthermore, it is approved that banking market of analyzed CEE countries is moderate to high concentrated in accordance with CR5 (values of index are in the range of 46% to 85% for mentioned three banks' indicators), i.e. no market concentration to moderate concentration accordingly to HHI (values of index are in the range of 559 to 2070 points)

Lending interest rates (IR) in the Serbian market are generally viewed as high. In accordance with the official NBS (National bank of Serbia) data for 2010: lending (IR) was 10.4% p.a., deposit IR was 4.2% p.a., and spread was 6.3% p.a. At the same time, IR on cross-border loans was 3.7% p.a. It means that the use of cross-border loans was a better solution for companies which were in position to take them. The indicator of IR spread in Serbia got worse and came down to 106th position (it used to be ranked 90th in 2009; WEF). If we analyse the structure of IR spread, we can notice that there is room for decreasing the level of active IR in the area of country risk premium and funding spread. Pearson Correlation shows that IR has strong relation with return on assets and volume of collected deposits i.e. profit margin per product.

Prevod obezbedio autorRezime U poslednje tri decenije, pa sve do izbijanja ekonomske krize, na svetskom finansijskom tržištu bio je zastupljen trend usmeren ka konsolidaciji finansijskih tržišta. Globalni fenomeni, tehnološke inovacije, liberalizacija kao i deregulacija tržišta bili su faktori koji su olakšali proces spajanja i pripajanja u finansijskom sektoru. U bankarskom sektoru jugoistočne Evrope, u turbulentnom poslovnom okruženju, svakodnevno se dešavaju promene koje primoravaju banke da se prilagođavaju nastaloj situaciji. Proces restrukturiranja odnosi se na brojne aktivnosti kojima bankarski sektor menja postojeću vlasničku strukturu i strategije poslovanja u cilju maksimiziranja profita i poboljšanja efikasnosti poslovanja. Cilj rada je da prikaže proces restrukturiranja banaka u regionu jugoistočne Evrope pre i za vreme izbijanja ekonomske krize, kao i da ukaže na činjenicu da je vlasnička transformacija praćena rastućim učešćem stranog vlasništva uticala na prekomponovanje tržišne strukture kao i na rast njegovog učešća u ukupnom kapitalu (bilansnoj sumi).Ključne reči: bankarski sektor, vlasnička transformacija, zemlje jugoistočne Evrope JEL: G21, P34 Primljen: 14.03.2016. Prihvaćen: 13.02.2017 SummaryConsolidation of financial markets used to be the trend on the global market in the previous three decades up to the recent economic crisis. Global phenomena, technological innovation, liberalization and deregulation used to be the factors which made the process of mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector much easier. In the banking sector of Southeastern Europe, in a turbulent environment, changes are occurring on a daily basis, forcing the banks to adjust to the new situation. The restructuring process is related to the various activities whose main result is the changed ownership structure and business strategy with a view to maximizing profitability and improving efficiency. The aim of our research is to present the banks' restructuring processes in the region of Southeastern Europe before and during the crisis, as well as to stress the fact that the ownership transformation, followed by an increased share of foreign ownership, affected the changes in the market structure and its share in total equity (in the banking balance sheet size). Keywords UvodU razvijenim finansijskim sistemima, u turbulentnom poslovnom okruženju, svakodnevno se dešavaju promene koje primoravaju finansijske institucije da se brzo prilagođavaju nastaloj situaciji. Proces restrukturiranja, kao sastavni element tranzicije, odnosi se na veliki broj aktivnosti kojima kompanije menjaju postojeću vlasničku strukturu i strategije poslovanja u cilju: maksimiziranja profita, poboljšanja efikasnosti poslovanja, kreiranja sinergije (dodatne vrednosti), rasta kompanije (dugoročno povećanje veličine kompanije), povećanja poslovnih aktivnosti, uštede na troškovima, smanjenja rizika poslovanja, ulaska na nova tržišta, poboljšanja u upravljanju (menadžmentu) kompanije.U tom kontekstu, autori u istraživanju polaze od hipoteze da je...

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