The National Bank of Serbia published first-quarter 2025 payment system statistics showing a sharp increase in distance contracting for financial services and the participation of non-bank payment service providers that have met the conditions to implement video-based user identification. A total of 93,355 financial contracts were concluded using the distance contracting service, up 58.4% from 58,920 in the first quarter of 2024. Video identification, used when a user contracts a provider’s financial services for the first time, was applied in 25,506 contracts, an increase of 79.9% year on year; 964 of these contracts (3.8%) related to payment services offered by non-bank payment service providers. Video identification accounted for 27.3% of all distance contracts, up 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter of 2024, while the remaining 67,849 contracts (72.7%) were concluded through other electronic methods for users with an existing business relationship, up 51.6%. Among services offered by banking payment service providers, distance contracting increased across demand savings and term deposits (up 113.6% to 13,927), payment account opening (up 107.8% to 21,696), other services (up 61.4% to 8,521), overdrafts (up 37.4% to 18,981) and cash loans (up 28% to 29,266).
National Bank of Serbia 2025-07-08
National Bank of Serbia reports 58.4% rise in distance financial contracting and non-bank participation via video identification
The National Bank of Serbia reported a significant rise in distance contracting for financial services in Q1 2025, with 93,355 contracts concluded, marking a 58.4% increase from the previous year. Video-based user identification was used in 25,506 contracts, a 79.9% year-on-year increase, with non-bank payment service providers accounting for 3.8%. Distance contracting surged across various banking services, notably demand savings and term deposits, payment account openings, and cash loans.