The Central Bank of Montenegro said Gov. Irena Radović used the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Constituency Meeting in Varna to set out priorities on economic resilience, European Union financial integration and continued external support for Montenegro’s reform agenda. In remarks delivered as rapporteur for the meeting, she said recent shocks had shown that resilience must be central to economic policymaking and called for the IMF and World Bank to strengthen support for the early identification of vulnerabilities, stronger institutional preparedness and better crisis-response capacity in member countries. On the sidelines, Radović discussed Montenegro’s EU accession path, financial sector resilience and ongoing IMF support for Central Bank of Montenegro reforms with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. She said the central bank is contributing to accession through regulatory alignment, stronger institutional capacity and the adoption of European standards, and pointed to Montenegro’s membership of the Single Euro Payments Area geographic area as a tangible step in European financial integration that is already improving payment speed, cost and efficiency for citizens and businesses. She also highlighted IMF technical assistance in regulatory and supervisory work, stress testing and assessing the impact of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism risks on financial stability. In a separate meeting with Bulgarian National Bank Gov. Dimitar Radev, discussions covered the Central Bank of Montenegro’s European agenda, preparations for future membership of the European System of Central Banks and the Eurosystem, and closer bilateral cooperation. Radović also announced the forthcoming launch of an instant payment system through the TIPS Clone project, while citing Bulgaria’s experience in institutional preparedness, payment systems, banking supervision and coordination within the European central banking framework as relevant for Montenegro’s next accession phase.
Central Bank of Montenegro2026-06-19
Central Bank of Montenegro outlines EU financial integration priorities and forthcoming TIPS Clone instant payment launch
The Central Bank of Montenegro said Gov. Irena Radović used the IMF and World Bank Constituency Meeting to press for stronger support on vulnerability detection, institutional preparedness and crisis response, while linking Montenegro’s reform agenda to EU financial integration. She also pointed to Montenegro’s SEPA membership and announced a forthcoming instant payment system through the TIPS Clone project.