Investigation: Alta Bank's Serbian links and sale of Macedonian shares to Macura

An investigative broadcast titled "KOD: The story of Alta Bank — a banking reputation woven through cookbooks and massage parlors, a Macedonian agency sold shares" aired on 08.11.2026 and laid out links between the Serbian side of Alta Bank's affairs and operations in Bitola.

What the programme presented

The programme detailed a mix of unexpected business activities — from cookbook projects to a massage salon — and flagged "close ties to Vučić's party" as part of what it described as the Serbian dimension of the bank's troubles. The report said these connections are part of the background to problems that affected Alta Bank's reputation and operations in North Macedonia.

Producers of the broadcast examined which parties had the authority to sell shares in the Macedonian Alta Bank and traced a recent transfer of shares to a buyer identified in the report as businessman Macura.

According to the programme, the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia has issued decisions regarding the bank's shareholder capital. The broadcast said it had reviewed those decisions and set out how they were applied in the case.

Reporters also said they established how much money a Macedonian state institution received when it sold its shares to Macura, and presented that figure as part of the wider account of the transaction.

The broadcast raises a series of questions for regulators and for the institutions involved, and the programme's findings focus attention on ownership links and regulatory choices behind the recent developments at Alta Bank.

Photo: press material from the event