Montenegro Central Bank Cites Pressure After Blocking Alta's Addiko Bid

The governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), Irena Radović, told a parliamentary committee in Podgorica on Friday, 6 November, that her institution came under pressure after it refused to approve a plan by Serbia's Alta group to take over Addiko Bank's Montenegrin unit. She was answering questions from committee chair Boris Mugoša about Alta Banka, whose licence Serbia's central bank withdrew on 30 October, and its payment company Alta Pay.

The October 2025 meeting

Radović said she and vice-governors Zorica Kalezić and Milan Remiković met Alta owner Davor Macura in October 2025, the only such meeting, and told him the central bank could not support the takeover because of the integrity of Montenegro's financial market. According to Danas, citing Vijesti, she said Macura had planned to move into two more Montenegrin banks after Addiko.

What followed, she said, were "well-meaning suggestions" and attempts at conditioning, including over the choice of vice-governors, licensing decisions and multimillion-euro anti-money-laundering fines. She said the pressure came from individuals rather than political structures, and that the security services had been informed and given their identities. She did not name them publicly.

Alta Pay licence withdrawn

Radović said the central bank had carried out three direct anti-money-laundering inspections of Alta Pay and had begun proceedings to ban it several weeks before events in Serbia; its licence was withdrawn on 1 November. She rejected claims that millions of euros were moved from Montenegro to Serbia, citing a single transaction of 50,000 euros with a German company and an average transaction of 63 euros. Whether Montenegrin state firms used Alta Banka, she said, is a matter for the National Bank of Serbia.

Opposition wants names

Jovana Todorović, spokeswoman of the Democratic People's Party (DNP), said the governor should publicly name those who pressured the bank and called on prosecutors to examine the case. Macura was detained in Serbia last week; his response to the governor's account has not been published.