National Bank of Serbia fines Prokredit Banka and orders remedial action over intrusive Rakuten Viber loan advertising

The National Bank of Serbia published a notice on measures imposed on Prokredit banka a.d. Beograd following a control procedure into the legality of its operations, centred on a digital advertising campaign run via the Rakuten Viber messaging application. The central bank issued a written reminder and imposed a fine, while ordering the bank to prevent recurrence and address identified shortcomings. The National Bank of Serbia found that the bank’s campaign sent a “Take a loan” link whenever users typed certain words (loan, installment, salary, expenses) in private communications on the application, constituting an intrusive business practice prohibited under Serbia’s Law on Consumer Protection. Although the bank terminated the campaign a few days after launch, the reminder prohibits future advertising messages amounting to unfair business practices and requires the bank to improve training for employees involved in creating and approving advertisements. Separately, the mandatory warning “Attention! Borrowing money costs money.” was found not to be adequately highlighted as required under the Law on the Protection of Financial Services Users, and the bank was ordered to undertake appropriate corrective activities.