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How is banking in Serbia, can we open an accoutn there?
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Atlas bank was liquidated in cyprus, russia and have very bad financial situation in montenegro.
Even if they allow remote opening(which i believe they didn't), this bank should be avoided in any way.
Even if they allow remote opening(which i believe they didn't), this bank should be avoided in any way.
Some people are happy to bank there, but feel free to suggest another country if you know a better place.
Serbia ready to sacrifice EU membership over Kosovo deal
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday (18 June) he would reject European Union membership if Belgrade does not receive concessions in return for recognising Kosovo and dropping attempts to stop it joining the United Nations.
www.euractiv.com
also Montenegro is a CRS state in 2023.
I just opened 2 accounts in Belgrade. You don't need to go to the police station to get the certificate of temporary residence. I went to the station twice and they don't really know what's going on there. What you need is the certificate issued from your hotel. Easy, unless you're staying at an Airbnb. So stay at a hotel. Reception will stamp the document and you take that and your passport to the bank, and that's all you need. Eurobank asked some questions and I had to wait a day to get approved (where is the money coming from, etc). You can only hold one currency per account with Eurobank, fyi. I also opened with Raiffeisen Bank. Very professional and no questions, plus their online banking is in English and very easy to use.
That's sufficient for opening a bank account in Serbia? I really consider going there once it is possible.
Yes, EUR is widely available, but compliance for non-resident corporate accoounts is crazy strict and you would need to provide a solid proof of business in or connected to Serbia.
Compliance for private non-resident accounts is more liberal.
do you mean it is possible for foreigners to get an account there? personal account of course.
Yes, it is possible. Having a friend who speaks Serbian and who would go to the bank with you would speed-up the process a lot.
The banking system in Serbia is a bit under-developed. I do prefer banking in Georgia, and that's saying something since I don't like banking in Georgia.
I tried a couple different banks but many of them aren't easily accessible to foreigners. Two that are are Raiffeisen and Mobi Banka. I opened accounts with them both. Raiffeisen is pretty easy to open an account with, but I didn't like the experience overall. They weren't transparent about fees and the English of the banker I had was not very good. Mobi Banka I think was easier to open an account with, and the banker spoke very good English.
I only played around with my Raiffeisen account for about a day before I decided to close it. I think their accounts are basically useless. I don't mind paying fees but with Raiffeisen you pay fees for very little functionality. Mobi Banka provides more functionality (as in, you can actually use your money by doing things like sending wires, which Raiffeisen didn't let me do), has better online banking, better customer support and a better app. Overall the experience with Mobi Banka is better, plus their STARTER account has no fees. The only annoyance about Mobi Banka is there is just one branch in the country, and that's in New Belgrade. Considering they're an online-first bank though it's not so bad. Their ATMs accept RSD and EUR deposits and are quite common to find around Belgrade.
For opening an account you need a "white card" that you get when you register your accommodation at a police station or at a hotel (you're legally supposed to do this anyway whenever you enter Serbia, but many tourists don't). With a white card and your passport you can open accounts at both Raiffeisen and Mobi Banka.
One thing to note about opening accounts is that you have to have an address in the country of your passport. I had issues opening an account because I wanted to use a real address. I do not live (or have ties) to the country of the passport I used to open a bank account (and you have to use the passport you entered Serbia with). The bankers did not seem to understand that you can live in a different country than your passport. They kept insisting that I had to have an address in the country of my passport, and I kept insisting that I had no such address. They did not accept my Serbian address. They then told me to use my last address in the country of my passport, but again that didn't work for me since I don't have an address in the country of my passport. After a bit of back and forth I asked them point blank if I could just make up an address in the country of my passport. They agreed. So I went on Google Maps and picked a random address, and now that is associated with my bank account(s). There is no way to change the address to be an address I have actual ties to. From a privacy perspective this may actually be beneficial to some people.
In Serbia there are resident and non-resident accounts. To have a resident account you have to be in the country for more than one year or have a visa for more than one year. Serbia only issues first-time visas for up to exactly one year, so this means it's practically impossible to open a resident account until after you've lived in Serbia for over one year.
There are many differences between resident and non-resident accounts. The biggest difference is that non-resident accounts do not have access to the RSD payment system. Non-residents can deposit RSD cash into their accounts and spend RSD using a DinaCard, but cannot send RSD to a resident account. Non-residents can send RSD to non-residents using SWIFT, but cannot send using the cheaper local bank transfer system. Receiving RSD is also a little more tricky. Basically a non-resident account works well as a foreign deposit account but doesn't work well actually within Serbia. If you want to send money to another Serbian bank account, for example, the money has to use SWIFT and go outside of Serbia (via an intermediary bank) and back into Serbia. Non-residents cannot pay any local Serbian bills (to pay bills you need to use cash and pay at a post office, exchange office or a bank).
From my experience, wire transfers costs around 30 EUR. If you're going to bank in Serbia, I'd recommend going with Mobi Banka and getting the PROGRESIV account. This costs 300 RSD a month and gives you a MasterCard. You can pair that MasterCard with Revolut or TransferWise to move money out of the country. This gives you more freedom since otherwise you have to give documentation to the bank for every wire transfer you initiate. I got rejected on a few wires despite giving documentation, so they're fairly strict on who you can and cannot send wires to. For example, there is a rule where you have to transfer money into a savings account first and then back into your deposit account before you are allowed to wire the money to another bank account in your name outside of Serbia. There are lots of silly little banking rules like this in Serbia. There are no restrictions on using the MasterCard. Sending money from my Mobi Banka account using my MasterCard via TransferWise costs a lot less than the wire transfer fees they charge too (at least for small amounts, I haven't tried with larger amounts).
I like that I can deposit money into the account without questions, and I can move money out of the account without questions using TransferWise. Overall though I don't think Serbia is a great place for banking. I feel that I have more freedom with a Georgian bank account. Mobi Banka is probably more remote-friendly though than any bank I have experience with in Georgia (in Georgia they always seem to want me to come into the branch). As long as you know what you're getting into though it's not a bad place to bank.
I tried a couple different banks but many of them aren't easily accessible to foreigners. Two that are are Raiffeisen and Mobi Banka. I opened accounts with them both. Raiffeisen is pretty easy to open an account with, but I didn't like the experience overall. They weren't transparent about fees and the English of the banker I had was not very good. Mobi Banka I think was easier to open an account with, and the banker spoke very good English.
I only played around with my Raiffeisen account for about a day before I decided to close it. I think their accounts are basically useless. I don't mind paying fees but with Raiffeisen you pay fees for very little functionality. Mobi Banka provides more functionality (as in, you can actually use your money by doing things like sending wires, which Raiffeisen didn't let me do), has better online banking, better customer support and a better app. Overall the experience with Mobi Banka is better, plus their STARTER account has no fees. The only annoyance about Mobi Banka is there is just one branch in the country, and that's in New Belgrade. Considering they're an online-first bank though it's not so bad. Their ATMs accept RSD and EUR deposits and are quite common to find around Belgrade.
For opening an account you need a "white card" that you get when you register your accommodation at a police station or at a hotel (you're legally supposed to do this anyway whenever you enter Serbia, but many tourists don't). With a white card and your passport you can open accounts at both Raiffeisen and Mobi Banka.
One thing to note about opening accounts is that you have to have an address in the country of your passport. I had issues opening an account because I wanted to use a real address. I do not live (or have ties) to the country of the passport I used to open a bank account (and you have to use the passport you entered Serbia with). The bankers did not seem to understand that you can live in a different country than your passport. They kept insisting that I had to have an address in the country of my passport, and I kept insisting that I had no such address. They did not accept my Serbian address. They then told me to use my last address in the country of my passport, but again that didn't work for me since I don't have an address in the country of my passport. After a bit of back and forth I asked them point blank if I could just make up an address in the country of my passport. They agreed. So I went on Google Maps and picked a random address, and now that is associated with my bank account(s). There is no way to change the address to be an address I have actual ties to. From a privacy perspective this may actually be beneficial to some people.
In Serbia there are resident and non-resident accounts. To have a resident account you have to be in the country for more than one year or have a visa for more than one year. Serbia only issues first-time visas for up to exactly one year, so this means it's practically impossible to open a resident account until after you've lived in Serbia for over one year.
There are many differences between resident and non-resident accounts. The biggest difference is that non-resident accounts do not have access to the RSD payment system. Non-residents can deposit RSD cash into their accounts and spend RSD using a DinaCard, but cannot send RSD to a resident account. Non-residents can send RSD to non-residents using SWIFT, but cannot send using the cheaper local bank transfer system. Receiving RSD is also a little more tricky. Basically a non-resident account works well as a foreign deposit account but doesn't work well actually within Serbia. If you want to send money to another Serbian bank account, for example, the money has to use SWIFT and go outside of Serbia (via an intermediary bank) and back into Serbia. Non-residents cannot pay any local Serbian bills (to pay bills you need to use cash and pay at a post office, exchange office or a bank).
From my experience, wire transfers costs around 30 EUR. If you're going to bank in Serbia, I'd recommend going with Mobi Banka and getting the PROGRESIV account. This costs 300 RSD a month and gives you a MasterCard. You can pair that MasterCard with Revolut or TransferWise to move money out of the country. This gives you more freedom since otherwise you have to give documentation to the bank for every wire transfer you initiate. I got rejected on a few wires despite giving documentation, so they're fairly strict on who you can and cannot send wires to. For example, there is a rule where you have to transfer money into a savings account first and then back into your deposit account before you are allowed to wire the money to another bank account in your name outside of Serbia. There are lots of silly little banking rules like this in Serbia. There are no restrictions on using the MasterCard. Sending money from my Mobi Banka account using my MasterCard via TransferWise costs a lot less than the wire transfer fees they charge too (at least for small amounts, I haven't tried with larger amounts).
I like that I can deposit money into the account without questions, and I can move money out of the account without questions using TransferWise. Overall though I don't think Serbia is a great place for banking. I feel that I have more freedom with a Georgian bank account. Mobi Banka is probably more remote-friendly though than any bank I have experience with in Georgia (in Georgia they always seem to want me to come into the branch). As long as you know what you're getting into though it's not a bad place to bank.
Thanks, very useful report! One thing i didnt fully get: is the account in RSD? so if you get a bunch of EUR they will be converted and stored as RSD, correct?
You can sign up for a multi-currency account. Raiffeisen you have to specifically request a EUR account. Mobi Banka you get a multi-currency account automatically. You can convert currencies using online banking or the app. Raiffeisen's currency conversion fees are not good. Mobi Banka's conversion rates are good. You get better rates at the exchange offices though. I find Mobi Banka's exchange rates to be good enough to not bother with the effort of going to an exchange office.
You can only deposit RSD and EUR cash at ATMs. If you get EUR cash you can deposit it straight into your account and it will be deposited as EUR. Otherwise you can take it to an exchange office and convert it to RSD and then deposit. You can spend EUR directly from your account using wire transfer or your MasterCard. You can spend RSD with either your DinaCard or MasterCard. You cannot spend EUR with your DinaCard.
I opened an account with Addiko in Serbia in 2016. I was refered to the bank by a lawyer and I got the impression that made the whole affair easier. You are meant to have a tourist card to stay in the country, which I noted is referenced above. They didn't ask me for that. I think I just provided a passport.
I went to the bank and the clerk/manager was a nice gentleman who made the experience a pleasure. It was opened quickly and I asked him why there are so many exchanges in Serbia that accept CHF. He told me that going back some years it became very popular for Serbs to hold money in CHF (for obvious reasons) and it was the currency of choice for mortgages. However, something happened with exchange rates and many Serbs ended up horribly under water due to whatever movement took place.
However, my attempted transfer to Serbia was blocked twice. And it was only 6,000 euros. So instead I Western Unioned myself the money in two transfers at a cost of about 4%. I have employed people in Serbia and they had to be paid by Western Union (about 4%), but now I use Payoneer. Along with countries like Ukraine and Russia, dealing with Serbia is an issue and it sits very high on countries that are completely blacklisted by many financial institutions.
Serbia (I am told by locals) is also very corrupt. In some case that may be in your advantage in terms of palm greasing. Many Serbs do not trust keeping money in banks and tend to keep their money at home in dollar bills or euro notes. I pay a woman and she always takes payment in euros, because she is worried the dinar could go pop at any minute. This is why Serbia is littered with exchange offices. You are probably looking at about one exchange office per 2,000 people in a town. Many Serbs work abroad and they bring the money back in cash. This huge movement is why the euro -> dinar exchange is usually about 0.7%.
If you want to have dealings with Serbia, I would recommend you have a tested escape route before putting any substantial figures into the country.
I have has serious issues due to connection to the country and would advise avoiding it.
I went to the bank and the clerk/manager was a nice gentleman who made the experience a pleasure. It was opened quickly and I asked him why there are so many exchanges in Serbia that accept CHF. He told me that going back some years it became very popular for Serbs to hold money in CHF (for obvious reasons) and it was the currency of choice for mortgages. However, something happened with exchange rates and many Serbs ended up horribly under water due to whatever movement took place.
However, my attempted transfer to Serbia was blocked twice. And it was only 6,000 euros. So instead I Western Unioned myself the money in two transfers at a cost of about 4%. I have employed people in Serbia and they had to be paid by Western Union (about 4%), but now I use Payoneer. Along with countries like Ukraine and Russia, dealing with Serbia is an issue and it sits very high on countries that are completely blacklisted by many financial institutions.
Serbia (I am told by locals) is also very corrupt. In some case that may be in your advantage in terms of palm greasing. Many Serbs do not trust keeping money in banks and tend to keep their money at home in dollar bills or euro notes. I pay a woman and she always takes payment in euros, because she is worried the dinar could go pop at any minute. This is why Serbia is littered with exchange offices. You are probably looking at about one exchange office per 2,000 people in a town. Many Serbs work abroad and they bring the money back in cash. This huge movement is why the euro -> dinar exchange is usually about 0.7%.
If you want to have dealings with Serbia, I would recommend you have a tested escape route before putting any substantial figures into the country.
I have has serious issues due to connection to the country and would advise avoiding it.
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