Central Bank of Montenegro caps SEPA credit transfer fees and extends domestic payment system operating hours

The Central Bank of Montenegro has adopted a package of three measures to reduce costs and improve the availability of payment services, including binding caps on bank fees for Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) credit transfers, extended operating hours for the domestic payment system, and changes to the central bank’s own payment-service tariffs. From 6 October 2025, banks may not charge citizens and businesses more than specified maximum fees for executing SEPA credit transfers, including EUR 0.02 for the first daily transfer by a natural person up to EUR 200, EUR 1.99 for electronic transfers up to EUR 20,000 and EUR 25 above that threshold, and higher caps for branch-initiated payments. Fees for receiving SEPA transfers are capped at EUR 1.99 up to EUR 20,000 and EUR 25 for larger amounts. The central bank estimates annual savings of EUR 13.9 million from lower bank fee income. Separately, the domestic RTGS system for transactions above EUR 1,000 will operate until 20:00 from 18 August 2025, while the DNS system for transactions below EUR 1,000 will run until 19:30 with six daily clearing cycles. Weekend operation is planned from mid-October 2025, and the introduction of the TIPS Clone platform in July 2026 is intended to support 24/7 payments. The tariff decision removes a 30% surcharge previously applied to Central Bank of Montenegro fees for payments executed after 14:00, replacing it with a single lower tariff for the full operating day from 08:00 to 20:00.