National Bank of Moldova highlights SEPA euro payments rollout and plans to expand MIA instant payments

The National Bank of Moldova’s Governor, Anca Dragu, used an international conference on payments and market infrastructures to outline Moldova’s progress in aligning euro payments with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) framework and scaling its domestic instant payments system, MIA. Speaking on a panel focused on delivering SEPA connectivity ahead of European Union accession, she pointed to early evidence of customer migration from traditional euro transfers via SWIFT toward SEPA-based payments. From 6 October 2025, eight of Moldova’s ten licensed banks can process euro payments under European payments rules, with the central bank citing faster, safer and lower-cost transfers. Weekly receipts via SEPA rose by 186% and nearly doubled from the first to the second week of banks’ SEPA operations, while the volume of traditional euro payments via SWIFT fell in line with the shift to SEPA. On MIA, the Governor reported around 780,000 users in the first year after launch, with almost one in three Moldovans using the service, and 15 licensed payment service providers integrated into their mobile and internet banking applications. Priorities set out for the next phase include adding new MIA functionalities, extending instant payments into retail commerce, public services and business payments, and interconnecting MIA with other regional instant payment systems. The discussions also covered strengthening the open banking framework to increase adoption, market participation and innovative applications.