EPS after Alta banka's collapse: under 0.5% of monthly collections stuck, app payments suspended

State-owned Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) said on 3 November that the National Bank of Serbia's revocation of Alta banka's licence threatens neither its operations nor its financial stability. According to the company, on the day the licence was revoked its accounts at Alta held less than 0.5% of total monthly electricity bill collections, money EPS will claim in the bankruptcy proceedings.

The bank's role. EPS says Alta collected payments exclusively for the Belgrade guaranteed-supply support centre and that the money was not kept there but used daily for current obligations. Alta was also the payment processor for the “EPS Uvid u račun” app and portal, through which about 5% of customers pay their bills; the bank had been chosen after a public invitation sent to six banks, offering the lowest commission. The company rejects claims that it held more than 400 billion dinars at Alta: the figures of 426, 460 or 479 billion circulating publicly are its annual revenues.

The figures. EPS has accounts at nine other Serbian banks, and most of its payment traffic goes through Banka Poštanska štedionica. According to RTS, quoted by B92, the app has about 1.3 million users and recorded 190,500 payments in October. Belgrade consumers received a new payment account for their October bills.

Context. The Belgrade Commercial Court opened bankruptcy proceedings against Alta banka on 3 November, and creditors have 90 days to register their claims. The bank's owner, Davor Macura, has been arrested on suspicion, according to Nova ekonomija, of taking 45 billion dinars from the bank's vault.

What comes next. The app's other functions still work: customers can view their consumption and bills and file complaints. EPS says it will soon launch the procedure to select a new payment processor, after which app payments will resume; payments already made through Alta will be recorded in the company's system.

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