The Bank of Albania urged the financial sector to commit to enabling the carrying out actions within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) system within the coming year.

At the National Payment System Committee organized on Tuesday, Governor Gent Sejko, called on the financial institutions to promote preparations with dedication to respect the deadlines of the relevant regulation, to realize the accession to the SEPA schemes and the execution of SEPA transactions for customers within the next year. He stated that the Bank of Albania will lead the process and support financial institutions in meeting the technical criteria of SEPA.

“While we have accomplished the first step towards membership in the SEPA jurisdiction, the concrete economic benefits from this decision will be multiple. First, savings generated from membership in SEPA for economic actors will amount to around Euro 20 million only in the first year, resulting from the reduction of fees. Second, the establishment of a supportive environment for key sectors of the economy, such as trade, will facilitate transactions with our main European partners, in addition to enabling Albanian businesses potential access to a market of 500 million people. Third, a significant impact is also expected in the tourism sector, as well as in remittances from emigrants and direct investments, which generate a considerable contribution to the Albanian economy,” Sejko said.

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, 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 into 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, 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 fulfill the SEPA technical criteria.

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

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, in a broader context, this innovation brings many advantages on the path to the economy formalization and financial inclusion enhancement.

In particular, the Governor emphasized 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 innovations that time demands for the growth of the Albanian society's well-being. Sejko proceeded by declaring that the Bank of Albania, given this process, has collaborated and will continue to work jointly with other public institutions and banks’ experts.