Millions of euros disappeared: bank close to Vucic in Serbia closed

Alta Bank scandal in Serbia Bank closed, millions of euros disappeared As of: November 6th, 2026 • 12:58 p.m

The Serbian Alta Bank is closed and its owner arrested. The alleged confidant of former President Vucic is said to have stolen almost 400 million euros. Government funds could also be affected.

The history of Serbia's Alta Bank is remarkable in every respect. Owner Davor Macura rose from being the owner of an exchange office in Belgrade to becoming a banker within just a few years. Possibly through good connections to former President Aleksandar Vucic, as the Serbian media is now saying.

In 2019, Macura bought shares in a former Yugoslavian bank from the state and renamed it Alta Bank. An astonishing rise began: within a few years, many state institutions suddenly opened accounts with Alta Bank, according to Belgrade economics professor Goran Radosavljevic.

The state used to process its payments - such as pension payments - through the Post-Sparkasse, a state-owned bank, said Radosavljevic. “At some point, someone decided to shift these cash flows to Alta Bank, even though it is not a state-owned bank.” Macura also expanded its exchange office business.

A few days ago, the Serbian National Bank revoked Alta Bank's license. According to media reports, funds of around 140 million euros are said to have been withdrawn from the bank within a short period of time. Accordingly, Alta Bank has had liquidity problems for the entire year.

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Owner Davor Macura was arrested. The public prosecutor accuses him of stealing money from the bank's safe together with two employees. A total of 45 billion dinars, the equivalent of around 380 million euros. The enormous sum raises many questions.

It is very difficult to imagine that someone would have transported 45 billion dinars or 380 million euros in notes, says economics professor Goran Radosavljevic. That would be several tons of money that couldn't have simply disappeared unnoticed.

"It's entirely possible that this money was never physically in the vault," says Radosavljevic. "The documents pretended it went there, when in fact it went somewhere else and was invested there."

The Serbian investigative network KRIK claims to have learned that a large part of the money is said to have flowed out through fictitious bookings from Macura's exchange offices. The public prosecutor's office for organized crime is investigating.

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Emir Zildzovic is the economic expert of the Student List that won the parliamentary elections in Serbia. For him, in addition to the question of criminal prosecution, there is also the question of whether banking supervision has failed.

He says it is surprising that the National Bank, which is supposed to monitor liquidity on a daily basis, has not found an opportunity to do so. "Given that these are exceptionally large sums of money relative to the size of the bank, these controls should have been better."

Economic expert Goran Radosavljevic believes that the Serbian banking regulator is not independent. Since 2012, the governor of the National Bank has been indirectly appointed by the President. So far from Alexander Vucic.

This could cost the bank's customers dearly. There is also deposit insurance in Serbia. But this only goes up to 50,000 euros. Anyone who had more in the bank could come away empty-handed. And the state could also end up with a loss, warns Radosavljevic.

"The state will in any case have to bear the costs of compensating the insured deposits. The deposit protection agency will later use the insolvency estate, if one exists. It is therefore possible that the state will incur a loss as a result."

This topic in the program: MDR AKTUELL – The news radio | "Serbia: Millions of euros disappeared, bank close to Vucic closed" | 11/06/2026 | 10:17 am