Belgrade, Serbian companies remain heavily reliant on bank financing, while limited corporate bond and non-bank markets offer few alternatives for longer-term funding, the European Commission said in its Serbia 2026 Report, dated 4 November 2026. The report says bank financing remains dominant and non-bank financial institutions are underdeveloped.
Serbia has yet to complete the legal framework for microfinance institutions, the report says. The domestic corporate bond market remains too small to provide meaningful competition or longer-term funding for companies.
The country is pursuing a capital-market development strategy intended to expand that market. Concentrating corporate finance in banks is manageable while lenders remain liquid and well capitalised, but the Commission identifies structural constraints.
Infrastructure suppliers, energy projects, larger SMEs and growth companies may need longer maturities or risk profiles that do not fit conventional bank lending. A deeper bond market could direct domestic institutional savings into productive investment. The report identifies issuance standards, investor demand, disclosure quality and a credible secondary market as policy tasks. Serbia’s next stage of financial development will require companies to have funding choices rather than relying almost entirely on bank balance sheets or foreign parent capital.
