BANKING IN SERBIA

Current 

The still modest rates of economic growth in the conditions of pronounced and stimulating macroeconomic and financial stability are the basic characteristics of the environment in which the banking sector of Serbia has operated in the last years. 

At the extraordinary meeting of the NBS Executive Boardin March 2020, when the Government of the Republic of Serbia also enacted the first measures against the situation in Europe and the world, a decision was made to cut all main interest rates of the NBS. The key policy rate was lowered to 1.75%, the deposit facility rate to 0.75% and the lending facility rate to 2.75%. This way, even before the state of emergency was declared, the NBS supported the domestic economy and, in that sense, all residents and non-residents operating in Serbia. 

No Sanctions

Given that the Republic of Serbia did not join sanctions against the Russian Federation and maintains the best strategic relations with the Russian Federation, the United States of America, EU and the People’s Republic of China, Serbian banks are open to work with the citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus, as long as the Clients are providing the banks with invoices, agreements, specifications, customs declarations and other documents, supporting the particular transactions.

Key Benefits of Serbian Banking System Are as Follows:

• stable and cross-functional banking system with 29 banks divided in 7 groups (local, EU based, Russian, American, Turkish and one bank from UAE and China),
• accounts available in USD, EUR, CHF, TRY, RUB, GBP, CAD, DKK, JPY and SEK,
• premium services, like a letter of credit, bank Guarantee, nonstandard and MT-103 SWIFT payments with back-to-back (cash deposit) loans through Serbian legal entities are also available,

• basic and advanced e-banking services (support available in English) and mobile banking, 
• debit cards: DinaCard, MasterCard and Visa card available in all their variations,

• easy sale with Serbian banks e-commerce service, pay-by-link and similar services,

• state deposit insurance (EUR 50k guaranteed deposit per bank).

List of Bank Operations Successfully Conducted by Our Clients:

• cross-border commercial operations, such as incoming and outgoing transactions for services (IT, consulting, marketing, logistics, etc.) and reexported goods (food),
• international acquisitions and mergers,
• payrolls,
• transactions conducted on behalf of mother companies that do not have accounts at the moment of execution (may not be treated as income or expenses of the branches in Serbia),
• giving or receiving loans to and from non-residents,
• work with brokerage companies, etc.

Association “Welcome to Serbia” with its banking and finance experts, in-house lawyers, associated attorneys-at-law and accountants,  Clients on a daily basis in order to harmonize their work with the regulations, especially with the Guidelines for Implementing the Decision on Terms and Conditions of Performing Foreign Payment Transactions issued by the National Bank of Serbia. Our experts are making sure the Clients can execute their business plans swiftly without additional formal and other requirements from the banks and state authorities.

Our team is primarily orientated towards banking solutions, as it consists of English, Russian, Spanish and Serbian–speaking experienced bankers, lawyers and accountants, who have been successfully overcoming different business challenges of our Clients in Andorra, Switzerland, the Russian Federation and Serbia for the last 30 years. 

For more information regarding banking in Serbia, please do not hesitate to contact us 

Email: dm@welcometoserbia.org; mob: +381 60 0622 940 (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram)

www.welcometoserbia.org