🇷🇸 Serbia's central bank says the financial system is not under threat, amid worries about the state-

🇷🇸 Serbia's central bank says the financial system is not under threat, amid worries about the state-owned Postal Savings Bank

The National Bank of Serbia says the dinar exchange rate is stable and the financial system is not under threat. It says it supervises the Postal Savings Bank directly every day, and that the bank is meeting all its obligations to clients. Pensions and other state payments will go out on schedule. The central bank says demand for foreign currency has risen, mostly from ordinary people. It is using its foreign currency reserves, which it says are high, to keep the dinar stable. Serbian media report long queues outside banks as people withdraw their savings.

Serbia's student movement, whose Student List won the recent parliamentary elections, says people close to the "outgoing regime" put pressure on the bank by suddenly withdrawing large sums of money after their election defeat. The students urged people to stay calm and rely on verified information.

The claims began on 28 October, when Nemanja Karović, a Student List candidate, said on state broadcaster RTS that someone had tried to take about one billion dinars (roughly €8.5 million) out of the bank. Vladan Urošević, head of the bank's trade union, said staff stopped an attempted cash payout. The bank called the claim false and unfounded. It has also rejected as irresponsible a claim by politician Nemanja Šarović that the bank is "finished."

On 31 October, the bank itself asked the central bank for closer oversight of its liquidity, citing negative reports about it. Dejan Šoškić, a former central bank governor and now a Student List candidate, called it a liquidity shock and said the bank remains well capitalized. He said its situation is not comparable to Alta Bank's.

Alta Bank lost its licence and is now in bankruptcy. The Postal Savings Bank has been chosen to pay out Alta's insured deposits, up to €50,000 per client. It has also taken over pension payments for 1,965 former Alta clients.

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