The Central Bank of Montenegro's Council adopted draft amendments that would tighten the framework for financial leasing, factoring, purchase of receivables, micro-lending and credit-guarantee operations, fully align the financial conglomerates regime with the relevant European Union directive, and increase the threshold for mandatory execution of payment transactions in the RTGS system to EUR 3,000 from EUR 1,000. The package is aimed at strengthening supervision of financial service providers and modernising payment system rules. For non-bank financial service providers, the draft law strengthens requirements on corporate governance, internal control systems and risk management. It also introduces the option, subject to Central Bank approval, to establish a company for combined financial operations that can conduct financial leasing, factoring and micro-crediting simultaneously, with stricter capital, organisational, staffing and technical requirements, including a minimum cash component of initial capital of EUR 2 million. The financial conglomerates amendments are described as a precondition for closing Negotiating Chapter 9 on Financial Services. The RTGS threshold change is intended to support harmonisation of the small-value payment system, more efficient processing and preparations for a domestic instant payments system under the TIPS Clone project. The Council also amended rules on the central registry of transaction accounts, deposits and safe deposit boxes to align them with the rulebook on determining the tax identification number.
Central Bank of Montenegro 2026-05-11
Central Bank of Montenegro adopts draft amendments for non bank finance and financial conglomerates and raises RTGS threshold to EUR 3000
The Central Bank of Montenegro’s Council adopted draft amendments tightening the framework for financial leasing, factoring, purchase of receivables, micro-lending and credit-guarantee operations, fully aligning the financial conglomerates regime with the relevant EU directive, and raising the mandatory RTGS payment threshold to EUR 3,000 from EUR 1,000. The measures strengthen governance, internal control and risk management for non-bank financial service providers and support payment system harmonisation and preparations for a domestic instant payments system.