The Central Bank of Montenegro presented its 2025 operating results and outlined priorities for the coming period, centring on further strengthening financial stability, deepening alignment with European Union standards and accelerating payments modernisation. The update highlighted Montenegro’s first SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) transactions and continued preparations to join European instant payments infrastructure, alongside supervisory and regulatory reforms aimed at future operation within the European System of Central Banks. Banking sector metrics for the first eleven months of 2025 showed total assets of EUR 7.7 billion, capital of EUR 1.0 billion (up 10% year on year), loan growth of 15% and deposit growth of nearly 5%, with a solvency ratio of 19.39% and non-performing loans at 2.78%. On payments, the central bank reported full alignment of the CBCG payment system with ISO 20022 for international payments, extended operating hours to 8 p.m. including weekends and public holidays, halved fees in the national payment system and removed higher afternoon fees, with banks required to pass reduced costs on to customers. Since 7 October 2025 Montenegro has been operationally part of SEPA, with average fees for electronically executed SEPA transactions reported at EUR 2.24 for individuals and EUR 6.4 for businesses versus an average SWIFT fee of EUR 73.4 prior to SEPA. Regulatory alignment work included finalising eight laws and multiple by-laws aligned to EU requirements including CRR III/CRD6, DORA, MiCA, BRRD II and EMIR 3, and the European Banking Authority has initiated an assessment of equivalence of Montenegro’s regulatory and supervisory framework with EU standards. In consumer protection, the new Law on Consumer Credit in force since November 2025 introduced a maximum permissible effective interest rate on consumer loans and removed housing loan processing fees and early repayment fees, supported by 10 implementing by-laws, alongside work to expand basic payment accounts. The TIPS Clone project, being implemented with Banca d’Italia, the European Central Bank and regional central banks, is scheduled to become operational in July 2026 and provide 24/7 real-time payments, with combined annual economic effects from SEPA and TIPS Clone estimated at EUR 160 million (about 2.3% of GDP). The central bank also launched a needs and gap analysis for alignment with ESCB and Eurosystem standards led by the central banks of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, with reforms to follow once the work is completed, while the EBA equivalence assessment was framed as creating a pathway to potential equivalent-country status in 2026.

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