A Serbian Bank Account for a Foreigner and Their Company

Serbian banks do open accounts for foreigners without a residence permit and for companies with foreign owners — this is routine practice, not an exception. But since 2022 the checks have become longer and more formal: banks require you to explain the origin of funds, show a real address and sometimes produce contracts with clients. Refusals do happen, and almost always for one of a handful of predictable reasons.

This article covers what to prepare for a personal account and for a company account, how resident and non-resident status work, how long to wait and what to do if the bank says no.

A personal account for a foreigner

A foreigner without a residence permit opens a non-resident account (nerezidentni račun). A passport is enough for this; many banks additionally ask for proof of address — a lease agreement or the registration of stay (white card) — plus a completed tax residency questionnaire (CRS/FATCA). Some banks require the foreigner’s registration number (EBS), issued by the Ministry of the Interior, which also comes in useful for an electronic signature and public services.

Once you have a temporary residence permit, the status can be changed to resident: the restrictions typical of non-resident accounts are lifted and it becomes easier to arrange cards and credit products. Dinar and foreign currency (euro) accounts are usually opened at the same time; transfers from abroad arrive in the foreign currency account and are converted if needed.

A company account: the document package

• The APR registration decision and the founding act.
• Passports of the director and of every owner holding more than 25%, plus the beneficial owner details from the APR register.
• Specimen signatures of the persons authorized to operate the account — completed at the bank (karta deponovanih potpisa).
• A description of the business: who the clients are, where the money comes from, expected turnover. The bank assesses risk from this questionnaire.
• Proof of the registered seat address: an office lease or the owner’s consent. A number of banks ask for it directly.
• Sometimes contracts with your first clients, invoices, and the company website.

As a rule the director has to be present in person: signatures are certified by a bank employee. Opening a corporate account entirely remotely in Serbia is in practice almost impossible — build that into your travel plans. If the director does not speak Serbian, some branches will help in English, but the document package is worth preparing in advance.

How long the checks take

A personal account is often opened the same day or within one or two days. A corporate account for a new company with a foreign owner takes the bank anywhere from a few days to three weeks: the compliance department screens the owners against sanctions and PEP lists and assesses the activity and the address. Large banks with foreign capital are usually more conservative and slower; some local ones are faster but offer a narrower set of services to non-residents.

A complete set of documents at the first visit is what speeds the review up: the bank does not open an account in stages, and every follow-up request sends the application back to the start of the queue. It pays to ask the manager in advance for the list of documents specifically for a company with a foreign founder — requirements sometimes differ between branches of the same bank — and to bring translations certified by a court translator rather than ones you made yourself.

Why banks refuse

1. The registered seat is a “mass” or virtual address with no real agreement behind it. The bank sees dozens of companies at one address and puts the client in a higher risk category. A real office or a workplace agreement removes the question — see the options for office rent in Belgrade.
2. A vague description of the business. “Consulting” and “IT services” with no clients and no clear flow of money is a classic reason for follow-up requests.
3. Mismatched data: one director in the APR and another in the questionnaire; an owner not entered in the beneficial owners register.
4. Expected turnover that does not match the profile: a company with one employee declaring millions of euros in transit.
5. Clients or counterparties from jurisdictions the bank does not work with under its internal policy.

A refusal from one bank does not mean a refusal from all of them. Policies differ, and what fails at one branch often goes through at another bank with the very same document package. It pays to ask at the branch in advance whether the bank works with non-resident founders from your country — that saves a week.

Currency control and transfers from abroad

Serbia retains currency regulation, and this affects day-to-day operations. Payments from foreign clients arrive in the company’s foreign currency account; the bank may request an invoice or a contract as the grounds for the payment. Funds can be held in euros in the account and conversion into dinars is not compulsory, but salaries, taxes and most domestic settlements are made in dinars.

A separate rule applies to loans from a non-resident owner. If you fund your Serbian company with personal money from abroad as a loan, the loan agreement must be registered with the National Bank of Serbia as a credit transaction with a non-resident. It is simpler and cleaner to put money in as share capital or an additional contribution than to arrange loans. Settlements in foreign currency between two Serbian residents are prohibited, apart from expressly permitted cases.

Online banking, cards and day-to-day work

All the large banks offer electronic banking for legal entities with two-factor authentication — either an app or a token. Business cards in euros and dinars are issued to the company with limits set at the director’s discretion. International transfers go through SWIFT within one to three working days; charges depend on the bank’s tariff and the amount. Taxes and contributions are paid using a special payment order format with codes, so the first payments are best made together with an accountant.

Pay attention to monthly maintenance charges: packages for legal entities differ several times over, and for a company with a dozen transactions a month the basic tariff is almost always enough. Also check the cost of incoming foreign currency transfers — at some banks it is noticeable when clients send frequent small payments.

What the bank will ask a year later

Customer checks do not end when the account is opened. Banks are required to refresh data periodically: once every year or two they request a valid passport for the director and owners, confirm the ownership structure against the APR register, and ask you to explain large or unusual incoming payments — for example a one-off transfer from a new foreign client several times the size of your usual turnover. Sanctions list screening runs continuously.

A letter from compliance cannot be ignored: without an answer by the deadline the bank restricts operations on the account and then terminates the agreement. Keep client contracts and invoices to hand, tell the bank about a change of director, address or owner as soon as the change is registered with the APR, and reply to requests through the bank’s official channel rather than through a manager on a messaging app.

Checklist before your visit to the bank

• The APR decision and the founding act, plus passports of the director and owners.
• The beneficial owner entry already made in the APR register.
• A lease agreement or other proof of the registered seat address.
• A short written description of the business: clients, countries, expected monthly turnover.
• Contracts or correspondence with your first clients, in case of questions.
• A Serbian phone number: confirmation codes and the compliance call will come to it.

If you are registering a company through a service provider, check whether they also help with the bank: pre-qualifying the client against a specific bank’s policy and having an interpreter at the meeting shortens the time to open an account and cuts down on repeat visits. How we handle this is described on our company registration in Serbia page.