The Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) adopted the CBCG’s 2026 Financial Plan alongside its Investment Plan and Cash Flow Plan, establishing the funding framework to deliver the 2025–2028 strategic objectives. The plans prioritise modernisation of payment infrastructure, including lower payment service fees, stronger transaction security and efficiency, and greater availability of financial services, while maintaining investment momentum in initiatives such as the TIPS Clone project, digital transformation, innovation and ESG implementation. On macroprudential policy, the Council amended the framework for retail loans to extend cash loan limiting measures for one additional year, including a requirement that retail loans with maturities over eight years may be granted only if secured by collateral such as a mortgage, fiduciary transfer of ownership, a pledge over movable assets or other appropriate collateral. It also kept the countercyclical capital buffer rate at 1% for the first quarter of 2026, and adopted a procedure for assessing banks’ internal liquidity adequacy aligned with European Central Bank guidelines, including reporting modalities and deadlines for internal capital adequacy and internal liquidity. Additional decisions updated detailed conditions for payment service agents, covering registration where agents expand into new payment services and the conditions defining good reputation for owners and management bodies, and the Council discussed Q3 2025 bank lending survey results pointing to eased retail credit standards and slightly tightened corporate standards, with banks expecting those trends to continue into the next quarter.

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