This paper is devoted to the analysis of the manner in which the oldest shareholding banks in Serbia were incorporated and operating up to the Second World War, in the context of social and political circumstances prevailing in the country at that time. The focus is on the situation in Serbia since its independence and the establishment of the Privileged National Bank, where the major role in its work was actually played by the founders of the Belgrade Crediting Institute, and up to the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of SHS)/Yugoslavia, when this bank was faced with a changed economic and political environment. Care was especially devoted to the bank’s management which, being a part of a few in number Serbian elite without any real competition in Serbia, and after the expansion of the nation state, had introduced in its work less than desirable knowledge, and nepotism instead of using all the advantages offered by the new expanded market to promote its business and uphold reputation of this monetary institution in society.