Stablecoin issuer / redeemer in Serbia

Law on Digital Assets (Zakon o digitalnoj imovini):

This law defines digital assets, regulates their issuance and trading, and explicitly designates Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) as obliged entities under the general AML/CFT law. It also sets out the licensing requirements for VASPs.

Eligible Entities: Only legal entities registered in Serbia can apply for a VASP license. Foreign entities cannot directly provide services without establishing a Serbian legal entity.

Issuance of digital assets.

A legal entity providing services related to digital assets must obtain a license from the relevant authority. If a VASP intends to provide services for both types of digital assets, it might require licenses from both regulators or a combined license if stipulated.

The Securities Commission (SC) supervises digital assets that qualify as financial instruments (e.g., security tokens, certain stablecoins).

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) supervises banks and financial institutions, but the regulation of virtual assets as means of payment is governed by the Law on Digital Assets, which establishes a separate regulatory framework from the NBS’s traditional supervision of payment systems.

Key Licensing Requirements: Applicants must meet stringent conditions, including:

Minimum Capital: Specified in regulations issued by the NBS or SC (e.g., minimum share capital requirements).

Management & Ownership: Fit and proper test for management and significant shareholders, demonstrating professional competence, reputation, and absence of criminal records.

Internal Controls: Robust internal procedures, risk management systems, IT security, and business continuity plans.

Article 28(2) of the Law on Digital Assets states that a virtual asset service provider must "take all necessary measures for the safekeeping of digital assets of its clients, including the segregation of clients' digital assets from its own digital assets."

The Law on Digital Assets mandates the segregation of client assets.

Identify and Verify the Identity of the Customer:

For natural persons: Obtain and verify identity based on official documents (e.g., passport, national ID card) including name, surname, address, date and place of birth, and unique identification number.

For legal entities: Obtain and verify identity based on official documents (e.g., excerpt from the company register) including name, registered address, registration number, legal form, details of statutory representatives, and information on the ownership and control structure.

Identify the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control the customer (typically 25% ownership threshold for legal entities) or on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted.

Verify their identity using reliable, independent sources, as per natural person requirements. Serbia also has a Central Register of Beneficial Owners that obliged entities can consult.

Obtain Information on the Purpose and Intended Nature of the Business Relationship: Understand why the customer wants to use the VASP's services.

Perform Ongoing Monitoring of the Business Relationship:

Scrutinize transactions throughout the course of the relationship to ensure they are consistent with the VASP's knowledge of the customer, their business, and risk profile, including, where necessary, the source of funds.

Regularly update customer information and risk assessments.

Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs): For customers who are PEPs, their family members, or close associates.

High-risk jurisdictions: Customers from countries identified by FATF or other credible sources as having weak AML/CFT regimes.

Serbia has made strides in risk assessment and prosecution under its AML/CFT framework, but further steps are needed in supervision and effective use of financial intelligence, indicating partial rather than strict adherence to all AML/CFT regulations.

Legal Entities (Businesses): Capital gains from virtual assets are included in the corporate income tax base and are subject to the standard Corporate Income Tax rate of 15% (under the Law on Corporate Income Tax - Zakon o porezu na dobit pravnih lica).