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FinTechs belonging to this area offer traditional banking services in a modern way, usually through online services or mobile applications as well as ancillary services – e.g. enabling customers to manage their giro- or custody-accounts online and in real time or offering e-wallet services. Keywords in this context are also API-Banking or Banking as a Service (BaaS)/ Bank as a Platform (BaaP).
API-Banking:
API stands for application programming interface and is offered to access data banks and to extract and insert information. API-Banking consequently means the access to data banks of banks to offer new and innovative banking applications.
Through these services FinTechs offer services with new functions, e.g. enabling customers to manage their accounts online and in real time.
BaaS – Bank as a Service/BaaP – Bank as a Platform:
The API-based Bank as a Service platform has a full banking licence, but merely serves as the back end for standalone independent FinTechs, which “use” the licence and the back end of the bank to offer new financial services, launch additional financial products or expand into additional markets.
Introduction
Attitude of the country towards online-banking services
Provision of online banking services is an increased trend by the Serbian banks. Banks are increasingly focusing on digitalization of payment services and remote conclusion of the agreements on financial services with the significant use of video-identification of the clients over the previous year.
Beginning of 2025 marked increase in number of financial contracts concluded remotely. According to the report of the NBS, in the first quarter of 2025, 93,355 financial contracts were concluded using the distance contracting service. The number of contracts concluded in this way is 58.4% higher than in the same period in 2024, when 58,920 contracts were concluded. In addition to banking payment service providers, the distance contracting service was also provided in the first quarter of this year by non-banking payment service providers who had previously met the necessary conditions for implementing the video identification procedure for users.
There is a noticeable trend in provision of new services to the banks which enable the banks to offer multiple functionalities to their customers, such as processing and payment gateway services. It is expected that the scope of account information services will expand due to harmonization of the PS Law with the PSD2.
Legal affairs
Obligations and requirements to provide online-banking services described above
At the moment, banking services, including online banking services, in Serbia can be performed only by the locally licensed banks. Minimum capital requirements are EUR 10 million for ? bank.