Alta Bank loses license after rapid rise in Serbia

Alta Banka, Serbia's ninth-largest bank by asset size, lost its banking license on October 31, 2026, after the National Bank of Serbia cited a serious deterioration in its financial condition and liquidity risks. The revocation opens the way for bankruptcy proceedings.

The bank traces its roots to JUBMES banka, founded in 1979 as the Yugoslav Bank for International Economic Cooperation to support Yugoslav exporters. In early 2019, ALTA Group, a business system linked to Davor Macura, took over the bank. Macura began his career with an exchange office in Belgrade's Altina neighborhood, from which the name Alta derives.

Renamed Alta Banka in 2019, the institution grew rapidly over seven years into one of Serbia's ten largest banks. By the end of July 2026, it held assets worth approximately 214.9 billion dinars, or about 1.84 billion euros, representing nearly three percent of the total assets of the Serbian banking sector.

Despite reporting a profit of roughly 385 million dinars in the first half of 2026, the bank lacked sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations. Regulators emphasized that accounting profit and asset holdings do not guarantee the availability of funds to cover liabilities when due.

The collapse has revived memories of Serbia's 1993 hyperinflation, international sanctions, and pyramid savings schemes such as Dafiment, where thousands queued outside branches to recover savings. Observers cite the sudden loss of public trust, questions about political influence, and doubts over banking supervision effectiveness as common threads between the two cases.

The full scale of Alta Banka's problems will be determined in bankruptcy and any subsequent legal proceedings. Its role in payment processing and the number of affected clients make the regulator's decision especially significant.