Serbia Shuts ALTA Bank Favoured by Russians After Vučić Defeat

Serbia’s central bank announced the withdrawal of ALTA banka’s operating licence on 31 October 2026, days after Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) lost parliamentary elections. The regulator cited a sharp deterioration in the bank’s finances and liquidity. Its owner, businessman Davor Macura, had built a fast-growing group during the SNS years and had been linked by investigative journalists to figures close to the former president.

The closure also hit an unusually exposed group of customers: Russians who moved to Serbia after the invasion of Ukraine. ALTA had become one of the few banks willing to open personal and business accounts for many of them when other lenders demanded more paperwork or declined their applications.

Cards stopped working, branches shut, and customers found they could no longer use their savings or receive payments.

A Banking Lifeline for Russian Expatriates

Serbia did not join the EU sanctions against Moscow. That made it attractive to Russian professionals and entrepreneurs looking for somewhere to relocate after February 2022. But moving to Serbia and obtaining a usable bank account were two different things.

Russian customers interviewed by RBC and Meduza described banks asking for Serbian employment contracts, residence permits and detailed proof of income. Requirements differed between institutions and sometimes even between branches. ALTA was regarded as more accommodating, especially for freelancers and newcomers without local employment. It also opened business accounts, which were essential for paying taxes, receiving client fees and running small companies.

ALTA was not the only possibility. State-owned Poštanska štedionica and API Bank served some Russians, too. Yet the alternatives could be less convenient, more expensive or unavailable to particular applicants. That helps explain why so many expatriates concentrated their banking at ALTA rather than spreading their savings across several institutions.

After the closure, Meduza interviewed Anton, an IT worker whose family had about €70,000 in an ALTA account, partly proceeds from an apartment sold in Russia. Another customer, a photography teacher living in Montenegro, said he used his Serbian card to access earnings paid through PayPal. For him the problem was not a large deposit: without the card, everyday purchases and travel payments became difficult. An entrepreneur described losing the account used for salaries, office rent and taxes.

The bank’s active customer base reportedly rose by around 40% in 2025 to approximately 66,500.

Public figures do not establish how many were Russians, or what share of deposits they held.

Why Other Banks Were Cautious

A bank could legally serve an ordinary Russian citizen in Serbia and still face obstacles moving that customer’s money internationally. Serbian lenders rely on foreign correspondent banks to clear many euro and dollar payments. Those intermediaries may refuse transactions involving sanctioned Russian institutions or insist on more demanding checks.

The National Bank of Serbia acknowledged the problem in October 2025, when it was asked why OTP Bank had stopped processing certain remittances from Russia. Serbia had not suspended payments with Russia, it said, but international sanctions and decisions by foreign banks were affecting transfers. The distinction mattered to lenders with European owners or significant business conducted through EU financial institutions.

ALTA’s own instructions warned non-resident customers that correspondent banks could reject particular Russia-linked transfers, especially in dollars. It could offer easier account opening than some competitors, but it could not guarantee that every overseas payment would clear.

This was a business opportunity in a difficult market, not in itself evidence of wrongdoing. Most Russian expatriates are not individually sanctioned. Still, a bank expanding among internationally mobile customers needs adequate checks on where money comes from, whom it belongs to and how transactions are processed. Whether ALTA’s controls kept pace with its growth is now a matter for scrutiny.

Macura’s Ascent and the Vučić Connection

Macura started with a currency exchange business in Belgrade’s Zemun district in 2008. His group acquired control of Jubmes banka in 2019 and renamed it ALTA banka. The lender grew rapidly, while the wider ALTA group moved into property, payment services, insurance and retail.

Serbian journalists had been examining the businessman’s connections well before the bank failed. In 2024, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network reported on property deals in Belgrade’s Dedinje district involving Macura’s company Danica Park and land linked to Milan Radoičić and Ljiljana Božović, wife of businessman Zvonko Veselinović. Its reporting also identified a property connection involving Nikola Petrović, widely described as a close associate of Vučić.

These were documented commercial relationships, not proof that Vučić controlled the bank or directed regulators. But they help explain why Macura’s extraordinary rise became a political issue after the SNS defeat. Media including N1 have described him as a businessman close to the party’s networks; he and his companies have rejected accusations of improper conduct.

Public-sector business added to the scrutiny.

In 2023 ALTA Pay began processing online electricity-bill payments for state utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS). N1 reported a commission of 28.77 dinars per transaction and questioned the terms of the arrangement. Such a fee looks small until multiplied across a large volume of monthly bills. ALTA also handled an EPS payment account used by Belgrade customers. After the bank’s licence was withdrawn, EPS announced a new account for future payments.

A private provider handling government-related payments is not automatically improper, and the lack of a conventional tender does not by itself prove a legal violation. The commercial value of these relationships, however, makes the award process and any concentration of bank deposits legitimate subjects for examination.

Macura’s ambitions extended far beyond payments. In October 2026, the group completed a deal to acquire Serbian supermarket operations including Idea, Mercator and Roda from Fortenova Group. That purchase illustrates the scale of the empire built around ALTA. The retail companies are separate legal entities; the bank’s failure does not automatically mean they are insolvent.

Six Days After the Election

On 25 October the student-backed opposition defeated the SNS-led bloc, following nearly two years of protests.

Vučić conceded defeat.

The vote ended a long period of SNS dominance, but it did not instantly replace every official appointed under the previous government.

This matters because the licence decision came from the National Bank of Serbia before a new cabinet had taken office.

It cannot be presented as an order from the incoming political leadership. The NBS said it had already undertaken supervisory measures to improve ALTA’s liquidity, but that the bank’s financial condition had deteriorated further. It has not published a full account of the bank’s daily funding position or of any withdrawals immediately following the vote.

A rapid loss of deposits could aggravate an existing liquidity problem. There is not yet enough public evidence, however, to say that post-election withdrawals caused the failure. Macura’s political connections and the timing warrant investigation; neither supplies a substitute for the bank’s balance sheet.

Serbia’s organised-crime prosecution office asked the central bank on 27 October for information on ALTA’s outgoing foreign transactions since 27 September. On 29 October it sought details of currency conversions and overseas transfers. The following day prosecutors requested a police examination of the bank’s operations and relevant central-bank officials. The NBS subsequently filed a criminal complaint against the bank and several responsible individuals.

Prosecutors said the data initially supplied did not cover the most recent period and that a further report could only be prepared after 4 November. The records needed to test claims of capital flight were therefore not yet publicly available on 2 November.

In neighbouring North Macedonia, an opposition politician alleged that more than €50 million had passed through an ALTA-related institution and questioned whether money was heading towards Moscow.

North Macedonian authorities urged caution, while the local bank said it remained open and was a separate legal entity. Neither an illegal transfer nor Moscow as the ultimate destination had been publicly established.

The investigation must distinguish the legitimate transfers of expatriate customers from any suspected movement of corporate or politically connected funds. Serving Russians is not evidence that a bank laundered money; equally, serving legitimate customers would not excuse unlawful activity by executives or other account holders.

What Happens to the Customers?

Serbia’s Deposit Insurance Agency says eligible deposits are covered up to €50,000 per depositor. Reimbursement must begin within seven business days after the Commercial Court in Belgrade opens bankruptcy proceedings. Customers with larger balances must seek recovery of the remainder through that process, with no guarantee yet of how much they will receive.