PRESS RELEASE
Governor Sejko attends the meeting organised by the Prime Minister Rama with commercial banks on digitalisation in banking

The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr Gent Sejko, attended the meeting organised by the Prime Minister of Albania, H.E. Mr. Edi Rama, focusing on digitalisation in banking.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Ms Delina Ibrahimi, the Director General of National Agency for Information Society, Ms Mirlinda Karçanaj, and the CEOs of commercial banks operating in Albania.

In his address, Governor Sejko commended the initiative undertaken by the Government on the digital revolution, aimed at modernising all public services.  This initiative is line with the objectives of the Bank of Albania on increasing: financial inclusion, finance access; and financial education, to further formalising the economy.  Since 2018, the Bank of Albania has intensified the efforts to modernise the payments market in Albania, with a view to boost financial inclusion and orientate the markets towards more innovative and efficient practices, through the Albanian National Retail Payments Strategy, 2019-2023.

In terms of electronic payments, Mr Sejko highlighted that the measures taken so far by the Bank of Albania and the market’s actors have led to a pronounced progress in this regard. These measures have contributed in the increase of electronic payments per capita by 12.5, from 4.3 per capita in 2017.  Nevertheless, yet various challenges are still present related to the enhancement of financial inclusion and further development of market with innovations and modern applications - said the Governor.  These challenges are closely interconnected with a range of inter-sectoral objectives, as: economy formalisation; electronic market promotion; and public services digitalisation.

In this regard, to ensure a complete and swift cycle of payments for public services at a low cost, and reduce the physical presence of households and enterprises at banks’ windows, there should be a quite dynamic and direct communication in real time amongst the commercial banks, e-Albania platform, and public institutions. 

In the framework of digitalisation, the Governor urged banks to be pro-active in offering their products, and invited them to be ready in providing their contribution to reduce the customer’s waiting time at banks’ windows and costs for supplying these services.

Concluding, Governor Sejko underscored that the maximum coordination amid institutions is crucial in the framework of regulatory and infrastructural improvements, aimed at further strengthening the effectiveness of the undertaken measures.