PRESS RELEASE
10th Meeting of the National Payment System Committee

On 5 December 2024, the National Payment System Committee (NPSC) held its meeting, hosted by the Committee Chair and First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, Ms Luljeta Minxhozi.

In addition to the National Payment System Committee members, the meeting was also attended by representatives of the Albanian Government, as well as other important institutions, such as the World Bank, the European Payments Council (EPC), and international payment institutions. Representatives of banks, non-bank financial institutions, and national operators of card payment schemes, as well as experts of the Bank of Albania were also invited to attend the meeting.

The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr Gent Sejko, delivered the opening speech of this forum, stating that the last decade has marked a revolution for the payment area in Albanian market, with a radical transformation of every aspect.

The Governor highlighted that the Bank of Albania has been a leader in this transformation, showing proactive in regard to technological changes in the international payments environment, and guiding the market towards the controlled adoption of these alterations.

Next, Mr Sejko, focused on two crucial moments that have crowned the Bank of Albania's multi-year work as a catalyst for developments in the digitalization field.

First, the decision of the European Payments Council to include Albania in the geographical scope of SEPA payment schemes marks a political achievement at the national level, and a concrete step towards integrating the country in the European market.

While pointing out that the actual economic benefits of this decision will be manifold, the Governor of the Bank of Albania invited financial institutions to be rigorous and devoted in preparing to meet the deadlines of the respective regulations, in order to achieve membership in SEPA and carry out SEPA transactions by the next year. He stated that the Bank of Albania will guide the process and support financial institutions to fulfil the SEPA technical criteria.

Second, another important development in the field of payments was the operationalization of open banking, which provides clients increased opportunities of choice to carry out payments and transfers which are simpler, faster and at lower cost

Mr Sejko declared that the operationalization of open banking is the first and fundamental step towards the functioning of open finance, which will enable the digitalization of lending, investments, and other financial services for clients. In addition to personal benefits for the consumer, on a broader context, this innovation brings many advantages on the path to the economy formalization and financial inclusion enhancement.

In particular, the Governor emphasised that the Bank of Albania encourages banks to be as much as possible oriented towards innovative projects, which aim to offer and increase the volume of remote banking services, particularly those with a direct impact on facilitating financial inclusion, or simply, the opening of a bank account remotely.

Moreover, He underlined that the Bank of Albania will always remain a promoter of advanced initiatives and of innovations that time demands for the growth of the Albanian society well-being. Mr Sejko proceeded by declaring that the Bank of Albania, in view of this process, has collaborated and will continue to work jointly  with other public institutions such as the Ministry of Finances, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Financial Intelligence Unit, as well as other domestic authorities such as, the National Agency for the Information Society (NAIS), the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA), the Albanian Association of Banks (AAB) and banks’ experts.

Discussions in the 10th NPCS meeting focused on the priority projects in the field of payments: open banking, SEPA membership and instant payments. In addition to the domestic developments and experience in relation to open banking, successful experiences on the adoption of this concept in the European market were also presented in the sessions of this forum. On the other hand, regarding SEPA membership, beyond the benefits and the perspective provided form this participation, Ms Silvia Di Lillo, the EPC representative, introduced also the next steps necessary to be undertaken by Albanian institutions until their full membership in SEPA. Last, the project of instant payments initiated by the Bank of Albania was also discussed during the meeting, focusing mainly on the necessary steps to operationalize TIPS clone, which is provided by the Bank of Italy and on the needed commitment of the market stakeholders in this regard.