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How is banking in Serbia, can we open an accoutn there?

Just a note about Serbia.
For example in country of my residence, Serbia present in list of forbidden countries for make transfers (not possible to send or receive money from banks there).
So it limit usage of banking.
Also a lot of services have Serbia in sanctioned lists like a Iran, Afganistan, etc.
So it need to be careful with using Serbian banking.


Hm that is very good to know.
 
Just a note about Serbia.
For example in country of my residence, Serbia present in list of forbidden countries for make transfers (not possible to send or receive money from banks there).
So it limit usage of banking.
Also a lot of services have Serbia in sanctioned lists like a Iran, Afganistan, etc.
So it need to be careful with using Serbian banking.

Really? I didn't know it was so bad. I knew there were restrictions in Bosnia and Kosovo, but I thought Serbia was white-listed.
Well, that's why I went to talk about Montenegro...
 
Do you have experience with bigger withdraws (10s of thousands of EUR) there and if they caused any problems? Do you have to order the withdraw in advance and wait couple of days?



I would ask you the same questions as above.
10s of thousands no, but 7-8 yes and without problems. Stay there few days and do the job.
 
In Serbia people like to say:
"You don't scam governament because it scam you."

Bank tellers are poorly skilled and they sometime have only finished high school, sometime they have some business degree.

But, you will be in trouble because sometime you will have to go to the bank/make 10 phone calls and wait until they fix the problem they created or even pay taxes for their mistake.

When you are closing accounts you will have to pay some extra taxes after few months sometimes because they will tell you they closed everything but somehow accounts are still open.

Payments will be late sometimes.
Cards will be late too.

You will have to go to the bank in order to fix the most simple mistake they made because they cant fix it via phone call.

You will wait in lines for about 30minute every time because only 1 teller is working while other women are drinking coffee.
 
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In Serbia people like to say:
"You don't scam governament because it scam you."

Bank tellers are poorly skilled and they sometime have only finished high school, sometime they have some business degree.

But, you will be in trouble because sometime you will have to go to the bank/make 10 phone calls and wait until they fix the problem they created or even pay taxes for their mistake.

When you are closing accounts you will have to pay some extra taxes after few months sometimes because they will tell you they closed everything but somehow accounts are still open.

Payments will be late sometimes.
Cards will be late too.

You will have to go to the bank in order to fix the most simple mistake they made because they cant fix it via phone call.

You will wait in lines for about 30minute every time because only 1 teller is working while other women are drinking coffee.

You are saying this based on what? Do you have an account there and had a bad experience ... or you are just guessing?
 
I live here retar*.
Strange, because I am really satisfied with the service I am being provided by a Serbian bank, much more than Cyprus or some other European banks that need 2 weeks to reply to your message, while when I contact my Serbian bank through online banking they always reply the same day. Oh well, I guess it varies from bank to bank.
 
Well, this is usual thing when level of knowledge of stuff are quite different in same bank(bank just haven't or dont care about level of expertice of own employees), and depend on your personal manager and personal issues experience could vary in same bank from terrible to great.
And also depent on business nature.
 
Strange, because I am really satisfied with the service I am being provided by a Serbian bank, much more than Cyprus or some other European banks that need 2 weeks to reply to your message, while when I contact my Serbian bank through online banking they always reply the same day. Oh well, I guess it varies from bank to bank.
Well so you are satisfied with their banking and they never had any issues at all.

while:
In Serbia people like to say:
"You don't scam governament because it scam you."

Bank tellers are poorly skilled and they sometime have only finished high school, sometime they have some business degree.

But, you will be in trouble because sometime you will have to go to the bank/make 10 phone calls and wait until they fix the problem they created or even pay taxes for their mistake.

When you are closing accounts you will have to pay some extra taxes after few months sometimes because they will tell you they closed everything but somehow accounts are still open.

Payments will be late sometimes.
Cards will be late too.

You will have to go to the bank in order to fix the most simple mistake they made because they cant fix it via phone call.

You will wait in lines for about 30minute every time because only 1 teller is working while other women are drinking coffee.

Seems not satisfied.

Can someone pin point if it is possible to open a corporate account for a Belize company with any Serbian bank? if so, can it be done remote?
 
No it's not. No Bank in Balkans cares for Belize or any other exotic islands, they live from 10-12% interest personal loans/Business loans and are n0t interested in any remote incorporated company that does not do business and has an office in the country.

Russian firms with business ties in Serbia might be an exception in Serbia, but thats about it.
 
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OP could you shed in and please reply here if you got an answer to what you were looking for. I would appreciate your input to be able to figure out if these type of discussions are useful for others than experts :)
 
I can add overall that for the Balkans countries not yet in EU, since they are in the process of joining the EU in next 5-7 years, and surely involved in many processes, regulations, tough constitutional and law changes that will make them EU compatible etc etc. that none of these countries can even be seen let alone try to accommodate any kind of off-shore Banking services. This region is still ripe with Gov. sponsored corruption and a high level conduit of crime and drugs to Europe, so they are extra monitored by EU.

Ownership by off-shore/foreign companies of local companies is fine, but that usually is related to a business/tender/service/trade/investment that takes place within the country.

Montenegro has mostly cleaned its act on these dodgy Russian real-estate mega laundry issues they had with state help and privatizations from 2005 to 2015, so they are behaving now.

So all in all, this region can be forgotten for any off-shore stuff, unless serious millions with Gov help are laundered, but sure that's where you engage the proper criminals like KPMG, EY, etc. to help you.
 
I'm so happy for all the attention this thread has received but honestly I don't understand anything! You guys are good I believe, but it's all too complicated to understand what it is about.

No simple answer to my simple question?
 
I'm so happy for all the attention this thread has received but honestly I don't understand anything! You guys are good I believe, but it's all too complicated to understand what it is about.

No simple answer to my simple question?
As far as I know, remote opening is not possible. Even when you visit, there may be some restrictions if you are not a resident - for example they won't give you a card or you won't be allowed to make foreign transactions etc. Even the locals don't like their banking system very much and their currency (dinar) has a history of hyperinflation. So I imagine if you don't need to bank specifically in Serbia and/or in RSD, there may be better places.
 
As someone on here was very vocal that Montenegro banks are much better than Serbian banks, it is official that Atlas Bank, Montenegro is temporarily closed and the clients can not withdraw any funds, as the authorities placed a temporary director. This was one of the most popular banks in Montenegro for offshroe business http://www.atlasbanka.com/
 
Atlas, prva and ibm banks in ME was under central bank investigation more than year.
Everyone who search at least a bit about banking system in ME avoided those banks.
Generally its not much different.
Every developed country have more or less periodical problems with some banks and I believe Serbian banking system affected here as well.
Just need to use own brain and knowledge for select banks itself and country, no matter its a ME, Cyprus, UK or other country/bank.