Alfa-Bank has started transfers for companies to Serbia in local dinars, a source in the bank told Vedomosti. The information was confirmed by the bank’s hotline operator. The change is also reflected in the list of rates on the bank’s website.
As of 31 March, transfers in Serbian dinars will be available in three Alfa-Bank service packages for businesses – “Active Settlements”, “Fast Development” and “High Turnover”. The transfer fee for all three tariffs will be 0.3% of the transfer amount, with a minimum of 10,000 roubles and a maximum of 50,000 roubles. An urgent transfer in dinars will cost 50,000 rubles each.
Andrey Gusev, Senior Partner at Nordic Star, comments on the innovation on the Vedomosti website: “Payments in national currencies are a popular alternative to payments in dollars and euros, which have become more difficult due to sanctions. This, rather than the natural growth of trade with Serbia, is the reason for the demand for transfers in local currency. There is competition in the remittance market to Serbia for legal entities, but it is complicated by the sanctions regime, so setting up a direct channel in dinars is a non-trivial task that requires agreements with local banks”.
The full version of the commentary is available at the link.