National Bank Takes Over Alta Banka Bitola: The Bank Is "Liquid," and Customers Can Spend at Most 10,000 Denars a Week by Card

On Saturday Alta Banka AD Bitola announced that it was liquid and that customers "can freely dispose of their deposits". On Sunday afternoon Governor Trajko Slaveski held an emergency press conference and announced that the National Bank was imposing temporary administration and taking over the management of the bank. One day separates these two pieces of news, and they sit badly next to each other.

For customers the most important number is 10,000 denars. That is the weekly limit on outflows from citizens' accounts through the bank's payment cards. Internal transfers between Alta Banka clients stay unlimited, for citizens and companies alike. There is no deadline: so far nobody has said how long the administration will last or how long the limit applies.

A healthy bank, under someone else's management

Slaveski claims the measure isn't the result of a damaged financial position. According to him the bank is liquid, highly capitalised, has a solid loan portfolio and meets supervisory standards, and the administrators are there to protect the bank's assets and depositors' interests. Which leaves the question every customer asks in front of an ATM: if everything's fine, why is my money on a limit?

Part of the answer is in Belgrade. On 30 October the National Bank of Serbia revoked the operating licence of Alta Banka AD Belgrade over a serious deterioration in its finances, and investigations were opened there into its business and the movement of capital. The Belgrade bank owns 95.1754 percent of the ordinary shares of the Bitola bank, formerly Stopanska Banka Bitola. Owner Davor Macura is part of the management structure of both banks.

The National Bank was explaining at the time that this was a separate legal entity and that losing the licence in Serbia didn't automatically mean losing the licence in Bitola. Within two days, the separate legal entity was under administrators appointed by the regulator.

Queues in Bitola and two million euros

Citizens didn't wait for a press conference. On Saturday there were queues outside the main branch in Bitola, and according to the governor around two million euros had been withdrawn from the bank by that day. Who withdrew it? MP Slavjanka Petrovska asked exactly that and added another, harder question: was anyone tipped off before everyone else found out? She said she would seek an answer in parliament.

Unofficial reports were also circulating that almost 100 million euros had been moved from Serbia to Macedonia. The Financial Intelligence Office said that in the last 48 hours it had received no information about large transactions to or from the Bitola bank. That's an answer for two days. For the time before that, there is no answer so far.

The instalment stays, the card is on a limit

Deposits of individuals are insured through the Deposit Insurance Fund, under the legal conditions and limits, the bank itself reminded customers. Loans, meanwhile, don't wait: the governor warned clients that the administration doesn't release them from their contractual obligations. The instalment stays due in full, while your own money comes off the card at 10,000 denars a week.

Slaveski appealed for unverified information not to be spread. The appeal is reasonable, but unverified information grows precisely where verified information has no date on it. How long will this last, what did supervision show while the Belgrade owner was sinking, and what checks came before the takeover of the bank? Those are questions for the governor, not for the people in front of the ATM.