Serbia Revokes Alta Group Exchange Licence, Imposes RSD250 Million in Fines

BELGRADE, 7 November 2026 — Serbia's central bank has withdrawn the foreign-exchange dealing authorisation of Alta Group d.o.o. Beograd and imposed fines totalling 250 million Serbian dinars on the company and a responsible individual, according to a regulatory statement issued on Friday, 6 November. The sanctions concern Alta Group's authorised currency-exchange activity, not a criminal conviction or a determination of the separate bankruptcy of Alta banka.

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) said a multi-day inspection by its foreign-exchange department identified serious breaches of Serbia's foreign-exchange legislation and associated regulations. It also described significant breaches of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing compliance rules. These are the regulator's findings. Its public announcement does not provide the underlying inspection report, a transaction-by-transaction account, or a final criminal court ruling.

The NBS said the governor ordered the withdrawal of Alta Group's permission to operate as an authorised currency exchanger. It imposed monetary penalties with a combined value of RSD250,000,000 on the legal entity and a responsible person within it. The announcement does not disclose how that total is divided between the two recipients or whether any amount has already been collected. An imposed fine is not a recovered sum or a proven customer loss.

The central bank said it would send the inspection findings and supporting material to the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime and Serbia's Anti-Money Laundering Administration, and potentially to other competent authorities. That planned referral is not itself proof that prosecutors have charged anyone in connection with this particular exchange-business inspection. A future criminal case would need to be reported on its own documents and procedural status.

Serbian broadcaster N1 reported the same 6 November regulatory action and distinguished it from earlier decisions affecting other Alta entities. Alta banka a.d. Beograd had its banking licence withdrawn on 30 October and entered bankruptcy proceedings on 3 November, while Alta Group separately lost its electronic-money and payment-services licence on 2 November. The latest decision concerns the company's authorisation to conduct currency-exchange business. The bank and Alta Group are separate legal persons, a distinction the NBS also emphasised in consumer guidance issued on 6 November.

The timing and scope of those decisions matter for customers and counterparties. Revocation of a banking licence, withdrawal of an electronic-money licence, and cancellation of an exchange-dealing authorisation are distinct legal actions with different affected activities. None should be treated as a finding that every related transaction involved money laundering. The NBS has said the broader banking system remains stable; that is the regulator's position, not an independent audit of all institutions.

The central bank's announcement does not contain Alta Group's detailed response to the inspection or a published appeal ruling. No independently authenticated company response specifically to the 6 November exchange sanction was identified in the material reviewed for this article. TFNOS will examine any response, administrative appeal, published inspection order, confirmed prosecutorial referral and resulting court action as potential follow-ups, while correcting the record if material evidence contradicts the regulator's account.

The verifiable new development is the 6 November administrative sanction: Alta Group lost its currency-exchange authorisation and the NBS imposed combined fines of RSD250 million. Whether those penalties are challenged or collected, and what investigators ultimately establish, remain separate open questions.

Sources: National Bank of Serbia original 6 November 2026 statement, https://www.nbs.rs/sr/scripts/showcontent/index.html?id=21882 ; National Bank of Serbia 6 November press archive https://www.nbs.rs/sr/drugi-nivo-navigacije/pres/arhiva-vesti ; N1 Belgrade, 6 November 2026, https://n1info.rs/biznis/nbs-kaznila-ovlascenog-menjaca-alta-group-novcanom-kaznom-od-250-miliona-dinara/ .