Two bank failures in one week: what deposit insurance in Serbia and Paraguay really pays

Within four days, two central banks took a bank off the grid. On 30 October 2026 the National Bank of Serbia revoked the licence of Alta banka a.d. Beograd. On 2 November the Central Bank of Paraguay opened resolution proceedings against ueno bank. Two countries, two continents, two entirely different banking systems, and the same experience for the customers: from one day to the next, you can no longer reach your money.

What happens next is decided by deposit insurance. How much it pays, in which currency, how fast and what becomes of the rest is set by law in both countries, and the answers differ sharply. The lesson of both cases is nevertheless the same, and it has less to do with Serbia or Paraguay than with a simple question: how many banks and how many countries carry your money?

Serbia: the National Bank pulls Alta banka's licence

The Executive Board of the Narodna banka Srbije decided on 30 October 2026 to revoke the operating licence of Alta banka a.d. Beograd. The central bank's notice gives three reasons: the bank's financial position had deteriorated significantly, a further deterioration of its finances or liquidity was possible, and the interests of its depositors were therefore at risk. At the same time the National Bank found that the conditions for bankruptcy were met and handed the management of the bank to the Deposit Insurance Agency, the Agencija za osiguranje depozita.

On 3 November 2026 the Commercial Court in Belgrade opened bankruptcy proceedings (case 10 St 275/2026), with the Deposit Insurance Agency as bankruptcy administrator. Anyone with a loan from Alta banka has to keep paying, according to the National Bank, only now into an account of the administrator. Debts do not vanish with the bank.

For perspective: in a statement of 2 November the National Bank describes the Serbian banking sector as stable, well capitalised and highly liquid, and writes expressly that the problems of an individual bank cannot be equated with the state of the sector as a whole. This is the case of one bank, not of a country.

What Serbian deposit insurance pays

Serbia's Law on Deposit Insurance is clear. Deposits are insured up to EUR 50,000 per depositor and per bank (Article 2), and the Republic of Serbia guarantees the payout (Article 4). Contractual interest up to the day bankruptcy opens counts towards the insured amount.

Under Article 3 the scheme protects individuals, sole traders and micro, small and medium-sized companies. Not protected are, among others, large companies, state bodies and municipalities, persons connected to the bank, bearer deposits and deposits arising from money laundering.

On currency, Article 17 draws a clean line:

• Dinar deposits are paid in dinars. They are measured against the EUR 50,000 cap at the National Bank's official middle rate on the day bankruptcy opens.
• Foreign currency deposits are paid in euros. A balance in dollars or francs is converted into euros at that day's middle rate.
• A depositor who held both is paid in proportion to the mix of balances.

And whatever lies above EUR 50,000? Under Article 18, depositors claim the amount above the cap in the bankruptcy proceedings. Whether and when anything comes back depends on what the estate yields. That can take years, and there is no guarantee for it.

How fast the money flows in Serbia

The deadlines are in the law too. Under Article 16, the Agency publishes within three working days of the bankruptcy ruling when the payout starts, through which bank and at which places. Within seven working days of the court's ruling, depositors must be able to use their balances up to the insured amount. The paying bank is Banka Poštanska štedionica, which signed its contract with the Agency on 5 November.

Nobody loses out by collecting late: the claim stands for three years from the bankruptcy ruling, until 3 November 2029.

Run the chain once. Licence revoked on 30 October, bankruptcy on 3 November, payout no later than seven working days after that. Anyone who held everything at Alta banka is close to two weeks without access to their money, in a procedure that runs to plan. Salary, rent, card payments: for those two weeks, none of it runs through that account.

Paraguay: resolution proceedings against ueno bank

In Paraguay, the Board of the Banco Central del Paraguay decided on 2 November 2026, by Resolution No. 1, Minutes No. 49, to open resolution proceedings against Ueno Bank S.A. The banking supervisor said so in a letter that the Supreme Court published. The ground is Article 13(b) of Law 2334/03: a solvency ratio of less than half the legal minimum.

The consequence is set out in Article 14 of the same law. The supervisor appoints administrators and the bank suspends its deposit business.

The case reaches far beyond the bank. The public prosecutor confirmed the arrest of senior bank officers on 3 November and on 4 November charged 27 people. On 5 November the Chamber of Deputies voted by 78 votes to impeach President Santiago Peña, who submitted his resignation while the session was under way. As of 7 November 2026: sitting as a court, the Senate found Peña guilty of misconduct in office and removed him on 6 November. The same day the former vice-president, Pedro Alliana, was sworn in as president to complete the 2023-2028 term.

What Paraguay's deposit guarantee fund pays

Paraguay does not express its deposit guarantee in euros or dollars but in minimum wages. Under Article 1 of Law 2334/03, the Fondo de Garantía de Depósitos covers deposits up to the equivalent of 75 monthly minimum wages per depositor and per institution. According to the Supreme Court that is currently 228,300,000 guaraníes. The minimum wage has stood at 3,044,000 guaraníes since 1 July 2026.

Before any payout, debts the depositor owes the bank are set off against the balances. Joint accounts are split equally between the holders. Excluded, among others, are the deposits of the bank's directors and senior managers, of persons connected to it, and deposits arising from sham transactions.

One point many people overlook: the law sets the cap in minimum wages, which means in guaraníes. It contains no separate rule for balances held in dollars. Anyone who keeps dollars in Paraguay because they distrust the guaraní should know that their protection is measured in the local currency.

For the wind-down itself the law provides several routes. Under Article 18 the central bank can transfer covered deposits together with assets to solvent banks, or pay out the guarantee directly. What remains goes to the competent court for compulsory liquidation as a residual balance under Article 26. The uncovered part sits there as a claim, with an open outcome.

How fast the money flows in Paraguay

Under Law 2334/03 the guarantee must be paid within 15 calendar days of the decision. The central bank's Board can extend that period, with reasons, by a further 15 days.

Congress moved anyway. On 4 November the Senate passed unanimously Law 7745/2026, which introduces an advance of up to 40 minimum wages, roughly 121.8 million guaraníes. Payment starts within 24 hours and may take no more than five working days. Overdue debts to the bank are deducted.

According to the state news agency IP, the money goes to the account with the highest available balance that the customer holds at another bank or finance company. Anyone without another account has a savings account opened in their name at another institution. The notice arrives by email from the address fgdpagos@bcp.gov.py.

Anyone affected should therefore stick to three things: respond only to communications from the central bank, give no data to senders who promise a faster payout, and keep their own statements and contracts, because they are the basis of any claim above the cap.

The real lesson: one bank in one country is the risk

Both cases show how deposit insurance really works. It applies per depositor and per bank. Two accounts at the same bank share one cap. Two accounts at two banks have two caps. Someone who spreads EUR 90,000 in Serbia across two banks is fully covered. Someone who keeps it at one bank carries EUR 40,000 of the risk themselves.

And even full cover does not solve the second problem: access. In Serbia it is close to two weeks according to plan; in Paraguay it took a law of its own for the first payments to arrive after days rather than weeks. Anyone without a second account in that time is left without a card and without transfers. Note how Paraguay pays out: into an account at another bank. Those who had one were ahead.

Paraguay also shows country risk. When a banking crisis reaches the top of the state, a second account in the same country helps you far less than one in another. Five simple rules follow:

• Two banks for everyday life. Salary and running payments through one bank, a real reserve with a card and online access at a second.
• Two countries for the reserve. A bank in another jurisdiction does not go down with a crisis in your main country.
• Stay below the cap. No more per bank than the scheme there covers: EUR 50,000 in Serbia, EUR 100,000 in the EU, £120,000 under the FSCS in the UK, in Paraguay the cap in guaraníes.
• Know the currency. In Serbia a foreign currency balance comes back in euros; in Paraguay the law measures the cap in guaraníes.
• Check that you are covered at all. A large company falls outside the Serbian scheme, and so does a director of the failed bank in Paraguay.

How the schemes compare worldwide is set out in Deposit guarantees worldwide. What the EU is changing in its own deposit insurance is covered in the EU deposit guarantee directive 2026/804.

For Serbia as a location the case changes little. The banking system is stable according to the National Bank, deposit insurance pays on fixed statutory deadlines, and the EUR 50,000 cap per depositor and bank is written into the law. What it changes is the care taken in choosing the bank. How an account in Serbia is opened and what applies is on the page Open a bank account in Serbia. What the ueno bank collapse means for anyone who lives in Paraguay or plans to take up residence there is set out by VidaLibrePlan, the network's address for Paraguay.

Opening and holding an account abroad is legal. The income stays taxable where you live, and none of this is about hiding anything. It is about making sure that the failure of a single bank cannot hold all your money for weeks. Spread your money so that no single bank and no single country can bring you to a standstill.