The National Bank of Serbia has opened a public consultation on Serbia’s new Draft Law on Financial Conglomerates, marking another step in the country’s broader alignment of financial regulation with European Union standards as part of the EU accession process.
According to the central bank, the proposed legislation is designed to harmonize Serbia’s domestic regulatory framework with EU Directive 2002/87/EC, which governs the supplementary supervision of credit institutions, insurance companies and investment firms operating within financial conglomerates.
The draft law introduces a formal framework for identifying financial conglomerates and establishing additional supervisory oversight over regulated entities operating across multiple segments of the financial sector. The initiative particularly targets groups that combine banking, insurance and investment activities under interconnected ownership or management structures, areas traditionally viewed by European regulators as carrying elevated systemic and contagion risks.
The consultation process is directly linked to Serbia’s obligations under Chapter 9 of the EU accession negotiations, which covers financial services regulation. In practical terms, the legislation would strengthen consolidated supervision requirements, risk monitoring and capital adequacy oversight across diversified financial groups operating in Serbia.
The move comes at a time when Serbia’s financial sector is undergoing broader modernization driven by digital payments growth, increasing cross-border financial integration and rising regulatory convergence with EU banking standards. The same day the draft law was published, the central bank also announced a new daily record in Serbia’s instant payment system, highlighting the accelerating transformation of the country’s financial infrastructure.
For banks, insurers and investment firms operating in Serbia, the proposed framework could gradually increase compliance requirements around governance structures, intra-group exposure reporting, capital allocation and risk concentration controls. Larger banking groups with regional ownership structures may face additional reporting obligations aimed at improving supervisory transparency and preventing systemic spillover risks between financial subsidiaries.
The public consultation remains open until 25 May 2026, after which the draft is expected to move further into Serbia’s legislative procedure as part of the country’s continuing financial-sector harmonization agenda with the European Union.
