The Bank of Albania published a press release on Governor Gent Sejko’s remarks at a workshop on Albania’s transition to a cashless economy, where he framed payments digitalisation as a core part of modernising the financial system. In that context, he pointed to the central bank’s work on the legal and infrastructure framework for electronic payments and cited recent reforms as having materially expanded digital payments use. The remarks highlighted the transposition of the second Payment Services Directive framework, the development of open banking, adoption of the Law on Basic Payment Accounts, modernisation of national payment systems, and Albania’s accession to the Single Euro Payments Area. The Governor said these changes have helped lift digital payments to 29 per capita annually from five a decade earlier, with volumes still growing by about 25% a year and now representing the largest share of transactions recorded in national systems. He also pointed to 1.5 million cards in circulation and a broader POS terminal network. Looking ahead, Sejko said the Bank of Albania’s priority remains the development of a national instant payments platform based on the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement model, alongside broader access to national payments infrastructure for payment institutions and electronic money institutions.
Bank of Albania2026-06-26
Bank of Albania highlights digital payments growth and instant payments priority at cashless economy workshop
In remarks at a workshop on a cashless economy, the Bank of Albania said its payments reforms have accelerated the shift to electronic payments. The Governor highlighted PSD2 transposition, open banking, basic payment accounts, payment system modernisation and SEPA accession, alongside data showing 29 digital payments per capita and 1.5 million cards in circulation. He said the next priority is a national instant payments platform based on TARGET Instant Payment Settlement and wider infrastructure access for payment and electronic money institutions.