The National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia published a column by Governor Trajko Slaveski in the Macedonian Banking Association’s bulletin outlining the country’s rollout of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and the next phase of payment-system modernisation. The update frames SEPA connectivity as already delivering faster and cheaper euro payments for households and businesses, while positioning instant payments as the next strategic objective.

SEPA credit transfers have been executed by nine banks since 7 October, with full connection of ten banks expected by end-2025. The National Bank reports sharply lower fees, including a reduction to around EUR 4 from around EUR 25 for a EUR 500 payment, and to less than EUR 10 from around EUR 80 for a EUR 20,000 business payment; it estimates economy-wide annual savings of around EUR 20 million. Processing times are described as having fallen from several days to most often less than two hours.

Looking ahead, work is underway with the central banks of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro on a shared regional instant payments system based on the Bank of Italy’s TIPS platform, aimed at an interoperable payments space between the Western Balkans and the European Union. The column also points to further efforts to digitalise payments, reduce cash usage and align the regulatory framework with European standards, with a focus on transparency, competition and user protection.

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