Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina launches domestic instant payment system, three banks join initial phase

The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched a domestic instant payment system, creating a new rail for payments that can be executed within seconds at any time, including weekends and holidays. The system is open to all commercial banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina from launch. In the initial phase, Intesa Sanpaolo Banka BiH, Raiffeisen Bank and Sparkasse Bank d.d. BiH joined after completing the required technical adjustments and testing, giving their retail and business clients access to 24/7 instant payments. The central bank has put in place the operational, technical and regulatory conditions for the system and adopted the Rules of Operation of the Instant Payment System of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first three participating banks account for about one quarter of total banking sector assets in the country. The central bank's fee for processing instant payment transactions is lower than the existing fee for transactions processed through the giro clearing system. The infrastructure is based on the European instant payment model adapted for Western Balkan countries by the Bank of Italy with the consent of the European Central Bank, and the European Union provided EUR 2 million to support development and the first year of maintenance. Further development is planned through additional functionalities and overlay services, including QR codes and, at a later stage, cross-border payments. Banks that are still adapting their technical and operational arrangements will join gradually, with details on service availability and rollout to be provided directly by each bank to its clients.