BANK OF ALBANIA

PRESS RELEASE
First Deputy Governor Minxhozi meets the homologue of the Central Bank of Montenegro, for the regional cooperation in the field of payment systems

Publication date: 06.07.2021

 

On 6 July 2021, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, Ms Luljeta Minxhozi, met with a delegation from the Central Bank of Montenegro, led by the Vice Governor of CBCG, Ms Zorica Kalezić. The purpose of this meeting relates to the current initiative on the establishment of a common regional market of payment systems between Western Balkans. Beyond the more efficient regional interaction, this initiative enhances the integration process with the European Union in the field of payments.  

The European Union, the Regional Cooperation Council and the World Bank support this regional initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to building a regional payments market based on the European experience on the functioning of cross-border payment services and systems.  In addition, this initiative aims at further implementing the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and integrating Western Balkans market to the European Union in this field.

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Ms Minxhozi highlighted the importance of bilateral meetings between Western Balkans.  In this framework, the meeting with the CBCG delegation and the First Deputy Governor Kalezić serves to the realisation of this ambitious project, which calls for a coordination of efforts to build on the regulatory convergence process and develop infrastructure in the field of payment systems.

Next, Deputy Governor Minxhozi presented an overview of the undertaken measures to date by the Bank of Albania and the National Committee of Payment System in the framework of modernising the retail payments market, mainly based on the best European practices. These measures foreseen in the Albania National Retail Payments Strategy (2018-2023) aim at fostering one of the Bank of Albania's priorities:  enhancing financial inclusion and accelerating the use of electronic payment instruments.  In this view, Ms Minxhozi stated that the approval of the Law “On payment services” is one of the main achievements related to the implementation of the National Retail Payments Strategy (2018-2023).

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The implementation of the Law will digitalise and modernise the payments market, while simultaneously it aligns the domestic regulatory framework with the European Union regarding the integration in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

Also, discussions in the meeting particularly focused on the settlement projects of payments in euro and instant payment. They are assessed to become the key initiatives in the view of infrastructural developments for the modernisation of the regional market and its integration. 

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Concluding, the interlocutors concurred on the continuation of the discussions and coordination of efforts for achieving a common and very efficient approach to accomplishing the aimed projects, in both decision-taking and technical levels.