As elsewhere in Balkan Peninsula, and more than any other region of Europe in the 19th century, the Principality of Serbia was affected by circulation of a considerable variety of foreign money.

[1]: 32–33  In 1854, the newspaper Novine srbske [sr] published an article entitled "The current monetary crisis", which called for the creation of a new financial institution intended to put order in the affairs of the country.

[1]: 40 Even after the bank's formal establishment by law, its ownership structure was still debated, between some who advocated recourse to foreign capital (as at the Imperial Ottoman Bank) given the scarcity of domestic resources, and others who doubted foreign shareholders would be sufficiently aligned with national interests.

Following the Balkan Wars, the National Bank opened branch offices in Skopje and Bitola in December 1913.

On 26 January 1920, the Law on the National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name to the National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and extended its activity to the whole territory of the newly formed country.