In an address to the fourth Financial Services Conference, the National Bank of Serbia governor called for regulation that enables financial innovation while preserving security, system stability and trust. The approach should remove unnecessary barriers, apply technology neutral rules and permit controlled, proportionate testing of new solutions. Financial institutions must retain responsibility for decisions involving artificial intelligence and other models, understand their limitations and ensure outcomes can be monitored rather than attributing decisions to algorithms. The governor called for further digitalization of financial, regulatory and tax processes, alongside open banking and carefully developed open finance. Customers should control who accesses their data, for what purpose and for how long, with access ending when consent is withdrawn. Comparable risks should attract comparable protections regardless of the technology, channel or intermediary, while operational resilience should ensure continuity and recovery of key services when technology or external suppliers fail. Existing modernization efforts include the instant payment system, which processed 34.5 million transactions in the second quarter of 2026, and operational participation in the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme by the central bank and 18 of Serbia’s 19 banks since May.
National Bank of Serbia governor sets out technology neutral approach to financial innovation and AI accountability
The National Bank of Serbia governor called for technology neutral regulation that supports financial innovation without compromising security, stability or trust. Institutions must remain accountable for AI assisted decisions, while open finance should be based on customer controlled data access. Comparable risks should receive comparable protections, supported by strong operational resilience.