The Ministry of Finance has published the Draft Law on Deposit Insurance and invited citizens and the professional public to participate in the public consultation, which will remain open until 31 May.
The new legislative framework does not introduce any new rules regarding the protection of citizens’ savings in terms of the amount of insured deposits. As under the previous law, all bank deposits are insured up to €50,000 per depositor, which represents the guaranteed payout amount in the event of a bank’s bankruptcy, regardless of the type, number of accounts, or currency of the deposit. Additional protection will only apply once Serbia joins the European Union, when the guaranteed deposit amount will increase from €50,000 to €100,000 in line with EU regulations.
Additional protection will also be introduced for so-called “temporary high balances”, such as funds from the sale of residential property, transactions related to marriage or divorce settlements, redundancy payments, or insurance payouts. In such cases, depositors will be temporarily protected up to €130,000 for a period of six months.
As stated in the draft law, the primary objective is to protect depositors from the loss of deposits and to preserve confidence in the financial system. The Deposit Insurance Agency will continue to be responsible for operating the system, while supervision over banks will remain with the National Bank of Serbia.
Payout of funds within seven days
One of the more significant changes concerns the clearer regulation of payout deadlines. In the event of a bank entering bankruptcy proceedings, the Agency will be required to enable citizens to access their insured funds within seven working days.
Payouts will be made automatically, without the need to submit a claim, through a specially appointed “payout bank”. Only in certain cases may this deadline be extended, and then only up to a maximum of 90 days.
“The Agency is obliged, within three working days from the occurrence of the insured event, to inform depositors through the media and on its website about their rights and obligations, the date and place of commencement of insured amount payouts, the payout bank referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, and the method of payment of insured amounts,” the draft law states.
The trigger for payouts is no longer solely a court decision opening bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings, but may also be a decision by the National Bank of Serbia declaring the “unavailability of deposits” (prior to bankruptcy).
Deposit insurance covers savings and fixed-term deposits, as well as funds held in current accounts. However, the law excludes from coverage deposits belonging to state institutions, financial institutions, investment and pension funds, insurance and investment companies, and other professional participants in the financial market.
Likewise, the insurance does not cover deposits of small investors whose funds are protected under separate arrangements, nor certain types of contracted deposits used as collateral. Deposits arising from unlawful activities are also excluded, including cases linked to money laundering and terrorist financing.
Deposit Insurance Fund to reach 6% of total insured deposits
The draft stipulates that, within ten years from the date the law enters into force, the Deposit Insurance Agency must ensure that the assets of the Deposit Insurance Fund reach six per cent of the total insured deposits in the banking system, and determine the regular premium rate accordingly.
The fund will be financed through premiums paid by banks, investment income, the recovery of claims in bankruptcy proceedings, as well as funds secured through possible borrowing, budget loans, and donations.
Banks will pay initial, regular, and extraordinary premiums, the amount of which will depend on the risk profile of each individual bank’s operations. The initial premium is paid as a one-off payment within 45 days from registration in the Register of Business Entities and amounts to 0.3 per cent of the monetary portion of the minimum founding capital prescribed for banks under the law governing credit institutions.
The regular premium is determined based on the amount of insured deposits and the level of risk in banks’ operations, and is calculated and collected quarterly by the Agency. “The regular premium rate amounts to a maximum of 0.2 per cent per quarter relative to the total insured amounts of banks,” the draft law specifies.
The Agency determines the regular premium rate for the following year no later than 30 September of the current year, taking into account the condition of the banking and wider financial system of the Republic of Serbia, the degree of risk exposure, the phase of the business cycle, the impact of procyclical premiums, and the feasibility of reaching the target fund amount.
If the assets of the Deposit Insurance Fund are insufficient for the payout of insured amounts or for other purposes, additional funds will be secured through the collection of extraordinary premiums, based on a decision of the Agency.
The combined rate of extraordinary premiums within a single calendar year may amount to no more than 0.5 per cent. Only with the approval of the National Bank of Serbia may the Agency decide on a higher rate, in which case the total extraordinary premium rate within one calendar year may not exceed one per cent.
EU harmonisation may represent the most significant structural innovation: an entirely new section regulates the functioning of the system within the EU framework, including loans between deposit insurance schemes of member states and reporting to the European Banking Authority (EBA).
Bank stress tests at least once every three years
One of the most important innovations of the new law concerns so-called “stress tests” and stricter oversight of banks. Specifically, the Deposit Insurance Agency will conduct these tests in banks at least once every three years in order to assess their preparedness for crisis situations. Banks will be obliged to provide the Agency with regular data on deposits and depositors, while penalties and measures by the National Bank of Serbia are предусмотрed for non-compliance.
“The Agency conducts stress tests to assess the resilience of the system and the ability of banks to provide data on depositors, deposits, liabilities (in cases where a deposit has been pledged as collateral for a loan), and the capacity, if necessary, to assume the role of payout bank and execute the payment of insured deposits,” the draft law states.
(Biznis.rs, 11.05.2026)