2025-08-20
The Executive Board of the National Bank of Serbia issues this Decision to standardize the calculation of the effective interest rate and the content of forms provided to financial service consumers. It mandates specific mathematical formulas, assumptions for variable rates, and detailed layouts for deposit, credit, and lease repayment schedules to ensure transparency. Service providers are required to deliver binding offers, general information, and risk disclosures using prescribed annexes prior to concluding agreements.
RS Official Gazette, Nos 51/2025 and 70/2025 Pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 8, Article 19, paragraph 5, Article 20, paragraph 17 and Article 33 of the Law on the Protection of Financial Service Consumers (RS Official Gazette, No 19/2025) and Article 15, paragraph 1 of the Law on the National Bank of Serbia (RS Official Gazette, Nos 72/2003, 55/2004, 85/2005 – other law, 44/2010, 76/2012, 106/2012, 14/2015, 40/2015 – CC decision, 44/2018 and 19/2025), the Executive Board of the National Bank of Serbia hereby issues the following DECISION ON TERMS AND METHOD OF CALCULATING THE EFFECTIVE INTEREST RATE AND ON THE LAYOUT AND CONTENT OF FORMS HANDED OUT TO CONSUMERS
2 (receipts and outlays) arising from the deposit and/or credit/lease taken and forms an integral part of the deposit and/or loan/lease agreement; 5) down payment in a credit/lease agreement means placement of funds by the borrower to finance a percentage of the credit/lease; 6) list of mandatory elements of the agreement within the meaning of forms of this Decision means a concise overview of the main elements of the agreement in the manner as envisaged in Annex 3 of this Decision. 2. Calculation of the effective interest rate 3. The effective interest rate shall be a discount rate which equates, on an annual basis, the present value of all cash flows and/or the present value of all cash receipts with the present value of all cash expenses relating to the use of financial services. It shall be calculated using the trial method and linear interpolation, through the following formula ) 0 100 (1 ( / ) = + − d t k k EKS NNT , where: NNTk – net cash flow, i.e. balance remaining after deducting the consumer’s cash outlays from cash receipts in a given time period k, d/t – sum total (1) of the number of days from the zero period date until 31 December of that year, as a share of the number of days in the zero period year, (2) number of years from the cash flow year being discounted until the zero period year, but excluding these two years, and (3) the number of days from the date of the beginning of the cash flow being discounted, as a share of the number of days in the year of that cash flow from 31 December of the previous year – calculated using the following formulas: − −
3 3) the periods between the dates used in the calculations are expressed in years or fractions of a year, assuming that a year consists of 365 days (or 366 days in a leap year), 52 weeks or 12 equal months, and assuming that a month has 30.41666 days (i.e. 365/12), regardless of whether it is a leap year; 4) if the periods between the dates used in the calculations cannot be expressed in whole numbers of weeks, months, or years, they are expressed in whole numbers of weeks, months, or years combined with a number of days, provided that if days are used: – every day is counted, including weekends and holidays, – equal periods, followed by days, are counted backward to the initial drawdown date of the tranche, – the length of the period in days is obtained by excluding the first day and including the last day, and it is expressed in years by dividing that period by the number of days in a full year (365 or 366), counting backward from the last day to the same day of the previous year. The effective interest rate shall be disclosed in percentages, with two decimal places and the rounding of the second decimal place, and apply on the calculation date. The effective interest rate shall be equal to or higher than the contracted interest rate. Notwithstanding paragraph 4 hereof, where the effective interest rate, calculated as set out herein, is lower than the contracted interest rate or cannot be calculated (e.g. where the amount of deposit used as a collateral for the credit is relatively high compared to the credit amount), the service provider shall inform the consumer thereof and explain why the effective interest rate is lower, or why it cannot provide an economically sound solution (e.g. where the rate has a negative value or the value cannot be calculated). For the purpose of calculating the effective interest rate, the service provider shall use the payment and/or repayment schedules stipulated in Sections 27, 28 and 29 of this Decision. 4. Cash flows referred to in Section 3, paragraph 1 of this Decision shall mean all cash receipts and all cash outlays borne by the consumer arising from the use of credit / revolving credit / lease or deposit placement, where the time of occurrence is regulated by the agreement, except for credits / revolving credits / leases and/or deposits from Sections 5–16 of this Decision, where the time of occurrence and cash flow amount shall be determined pursuant to those Sections.
4 3. Assumptions for calculating the effective interest rate 5. For credits / revolving credits / deposits / leases whose elements used in the calculation of the effective interest rate are contracted as variable, the rate shall be calculated using the value of such elements on the date of calculation. 6. For credits and revolving credits where the consumer, pursuant to the agreement, decides on withdrawal dynamics (lines of credit, overdrafts, credit cards etc.), the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the approved credit will be immediately disbursed in full. For credits and revolving credits where the consumer, pursuant to the agreement, decides on withdrawal dynamics, but adheres to limits – amounts and periods of withdrawal as specified in the agreement, the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the funds will be withdrawn at the earliest date envisaged by the agreement, up to the limit set therein. 7. For credits / revolving credits / leases where the agreement sets out different interest rates for different withdrawal periods specified in the agreement or different disbursement amounts, the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the funds will be withdrawn and disbursed at the highest interest rate set by the agreement. 8. For credits and revolving credits where the consumer, pursuant to the agreement, decides on the amount of repayment in excess of the minimum amount set by the agreement (e.g. credit cards), the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the repayment will be equal to the minimum contracted amount. 9. For credits / revolving credits / leases where the agreement envisages several possible repayment dates, the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the repayment will be effected at the earliest date set by the agreement. 10. For sight deposits and credits whose repayment amount and credit term are not set by the agreement, the effective interest rate shall be calculated under the assumption that the deposit and/or credit term is one year, and that payment/repayment shall be made in twelve equal monthly instalments. 11. In case of the agreement on overdraft facility, it is considered that the total amount of funds is withdrawn in full and throughout the entire duration of
5 this agreement. If the duration of the overdraft is unknown, the effective interest rate is calculated based on the assumption that the agreement is concluded for a period of three months. 12. For revolving credit agreements concluded for an indefinite period, where amounts must be repaid in full within or after a certain period, and after repayment become available for withdrawal again, the following is assumed:
6 3) fees payable in multiple instalments are paid at regular intervals, starting from the date of the first principal repayment. If the amount of such payments is unknown, it shall be assumed that they are of equal amounts; 4) the final payment settles any outstanding principal, interest and other applicable fees, if any. 15. If different interest rates and fees are offered for a limited period or a limited amount, it shall be deemed that the highest applicable interest rates and fees specified shall apply throughout the entire duration of the credit agreement. 16. For credit agreements with an initial fixed interest rate period, after which a new interest rate is determined and subsequently adjusted periodically in accordance with an agreed variable component, the calculation of the effective interest rate shall be based on the assumption that the variable interest rate at the end of the fixed-rate period is the same as at the time of calculating the effective interest rate, and on the value of the agreed variable component at that time. However, for housing credit agreements, this interest rate cannot be lower than the fixed interest rate. 17. When calculating the effective interest rate in the pre-contractual phase (advertising, general information, and offer), the service provider shall estimate with the diligence of a prudent businessperson the amount of all elements used to calculate this rate whose exact values are not yet known at this stage. 4. Providing general information to the consumer 18. The service provider shall provide to the consumer the information from Article 19 of the Law (general information), containing all the data stipulated by Article 19, paragraph 3 of the Law. The representative example that the service provider gives to the consumer as part of the general information must contain data on the total amount of the financial service, the total cost of the financial service, as well as the total amount that the consumer pays under the financial service agreement. The service provider may also include in the representative example other data specified in Article 19, paragraph 3 of the Law. 19. The service provider shall prepare a representative example as specified in Section 18, paragraph 2 of this Decision for each type of financial service it offers. If a single type of financial service is offered at different interest rates and in different currencies, this representative example must be prepared for each type of interest rate and for each currency.
7 The service provider shall also prepare the representative example from Section 18, paragraph 2 of this Decision for each category of consumers, except when the financial service is offered exclusively to a specific consumer category, in which case this constitutes a separate type of financial service (e.g. student credits, senior credits, etc.). 20. If general information is provided to the consumer on the premises of the service provider, the service provider must deliver this information to the consumer immediately upon receiving the consumer’s application for such information. The consumer has the right to receive this information in paper form upon request. The service provider must enable the consumer to request the delivery of general information via email and, in such cases, is obligated to provide the consumer with the general information within two working days from the date of receiving the application by email. In the case referred to in paragraph 2 hereof, the service provider shall deliver the general information to the email address from which the consumer submitted the application for general information or, exceptionally, to another such address explicitly specified by the consumer in the application as the address to which the service provider should deliver this information. In addition to delivering general information via email, the service provider may designate other remote communication means for delivering this information. In such cases, it must provide general information to consumers in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 hereof. 5. Layout and content of forms handed out to consumers 21. A service provider shall provide to the consumer, prior to concluding an agreement on deposit, credit, credit card, authorised overdraft facility or lease, an offer laid out on the respective form from Annex 1 of this Decision (informational and binding offer). 22. The service provider shall provide an informational offer to a consumer who has expressed interest in or submitted an application for entering into the agreement referred to in Section 21 of this Decision, if it is unable to immediately provide a binding offer following such expression of interest or submission of application. The informational offer from paragraph 1 hereof shall be made based on the data which the consumer provides to the service provider, shall not be
8 binding for the provider and has the role of providing the consumer with the opportunity to compare offers by different providers of those services before the service provider presents a binding offer, and thus estimate whether the conditions in those offers correspond to the consumer’s needs and financial situation. Based on the informational offer from paragraphs 1 and 2 hereof, the consumer shall have the right to submit an application for closing the agreement from Section 21 of this Decision within a reasonable timeframe, which in case of promotional periods may not be shorter than three working days. Once the application for the conclusion of the agreement from Section 21 of this Decision is submitted, the service provider shall make a decision on such application and deliver to the consumer a binding offer in accordance with the Law, using the appropriate form from Annex 1 of this Decision. 23. A service provider shall deliver to the consumer the offer from Sections 21 and 22 of this Decision in dinars at a fixed nominal interest rate and/or in case they do not have such product – an offer in dinars at a variable nominal interest rate, unless the consumer requires that the service be offered in the dinar equivalent of a foreign currency and/or in a foreign currency, in accordance with regulations governing foreign exchange operations. If the consumer, in accordance with paragraph 1 hereof, required an offer of an agreement from Section 21 of this Decision, with the exception of a deposit agreement, at a variable nominal interest rate and/or in a foreign currency or by contracting a currency clause, the service provider shall also inform the consumer, when delivering the offer from Sections 21 and 22 of this Decision, about borrowing risks in the appropriate form from Annex 2, as follows:
9 provide (insurance coverage scope, type of risks, etc.) when delivering the offer under Sections 21 and 22 of this Decision. In the notification referred to in paragraph 1 hereof, the creditor must emphasize that the consumer may obtain the insurance policy referred to therein from any insurance undertaking or through the creditor itself. When providing the notification referred to in paragraph 1 hereof, the creditor must inform the consumer that they have the right, within a specified period which cannot be shorter than three working days, to compare insurance offers related to the credit agreement, during which period the creditor may not modify the required insurance conditions. The consumer may, based on their explicit written request, obtain the insurance policy from the creditor acting as an insurance agent even before the expiration of the period specified in paragraph 3 hereof. 25. A service provider shall enable on their website the calculation of annuities and an overview of the credit/lease repayment schedule in the event of individual and joint change of the variable element of the nominal interest rate and the dinar exchange rate at any moment of repayment, and shall set up a link to the part of the NBS website with relevant calculators. 26. A service provider shall hand out to the consumer, along with the copy of the concluded agreement from Section 21 of this Decision, as well as with the agreement on opening and keeping an account whereby the overrunning facility is enabled, the list of mandatory elements of the agreement laid out on the respective form from Annex 3 of this Decision. A service provider shall hand out to the consumer, along with a copy of the concluded agreement on a deposit (except for sight deposits), credit and/or lease, in addition to the list of mandatory elements of such agreement referred to in paragraph 1 hereof, the payment/repayment schedule laid out on the respective form from Annex 4 of this Decision. 27. In Annex 4, Form 1 – DEPOSIT PAYMENT SCHEDULE shall be filled in as follows:
10 occurrence of the cash flow where the agreement does not set a specific date (with reference to the calendar number of days in a month and 365/366 days in a year); 3) column Deposit Paid shall include the amount of the deposit (or a portion of the deposit) to be paid in a bank account; 4) column Payments to Client shall include the amounts that the bank apportions to the consumer and adds to the deposit (e.g. accrued interest, bonus payments throughout the deposit term or upon its renewal, etc.); 5) column Payments Against Deposit shall include other payments made by the consumer pursuant to the agreement that are not added to the deposit (e.g. application processing fee, account maintenance fee etc.); 6) column Other Payments Against Deposit shall include all charges to the consumer debited against the deposit (e.g. account maintenance fee, tax liabilities etc.); 7) column Deposit Paid Out shall include the amount of deposit paid out to the consumer; 8) column Interest Paid Out shall include the amount of interest paid out to the consumer; 9) column Other Payments shall include other payments by the bank to the consumer pursuant to the deposit agreement (e.g. payment of the premium on deposit subject to fulfilment of certain conditions and similar payments); 10) column Balance of Deposit shall include the deposit balance in a particular period; 11) column Description shall include a short description of a cash flow in a particular period; 12) column Net Cash Flow shall include the cash flow constituting the difference between the sum total under columns 3, 5 and 6, and the sum total under columns 7, 8 and 9 in a particular period; 13) column Discounted Net Cash Flow shall include the discounted amount of the net cash flow in column 12, calculated by using the following formula: ( / ) ) 100 (1 d t k EKS NNT −
11 28. In Annex 4, Form 2 – CREDIT REPAYMENT SCHEDULE shall be filled in as follows:
12 payment of deposit and interest on deposit), whereby deposit placement and calculated interest on deposit are shown with a plus sign, while payment of deposit and the appertaining interest are shown with a negative sign; 11) column Description shall include a short description of a cash flow in a particular period; 12) column Net Cash Flow shall include the difference between the sum total under columns 6, 7, 8 and 10 and the sum total under columns 3 and 4 in a particular period, which may have a plus or minus sign; 13) column Discounted Net Cash Flow shall include the discounted amount of the net cash flow from column 12, calculated by using the following formula: ( / ) ) 100 (1 d t k EKS NNT −
13 2) column Maturity Date shall include the exact maturity date (according to the calendar number of days in the month and 365/366 days in the year); 3) column Amount of Net Financing shall include the lessee’s cash inflow, in line with the assumptions from item 1) of this paragraph; 4) column Rental Instalment shall include the amount of the rental instalment that the lessee pays to the lessor in a particular period; 5) column Depreciated Value of Lease Asset shall include a part of the rental instalment in a particular period relating to repayment of the net financing amount – the last period in this column shall also contain the residual value of the lease asset if it has been so envisaged by the lease agreement; 6) column Interest shall include a part of the lease payment in a particular period relating to interest; 7) column Other Payments shall include payments arising from lease that the lessee makes pursuant to the lease agreement, as follows: – approval fee (application processing), – value added tax calculated on approval charges (application processing), – value added tax calculated on interest portion of the rental instalment, – interim interest costs, – value added tax calculated on interim interest costs, – fee for entry of the lease agreement in the financial lease register plus the value added tax, – lease asset repurchase option fee, – insurance premium, if insurance is prerequisite for leasing, – other charges incurred in leasing (e.g. fee for obtaining information from the debt database, etc.); 8) column Non-Depreciated Value of Lease Asset shall include the unpaid part of the net financing amount; 9) column Description shall include a short description of a cash flow in a particular period; 10) column Net Cash Flow shall include the cash flow constituting the difference between the sum total under columns 5, 6 and 7, and column 3 in a particular period; 11) column Discounted Net Cash Flow shall include the discounted amount of net cash flow from column 10, calculated by using the following formula: ( / ) ) 100 (1 d t k EKS NNT −
14 ЕKS – rate that denotes the effective interest rate in the discount factor; 12) field Total in column 11 shall include the sum of all discounted net cash flows in particular periods. The sum must be equal to zero. Column Other Payments from paragraph 1, item 7) hereof shall not include: