TIRANA, Feb 8 /ATA/ The Bank of Albania in cooperation with the World Bank organized the workshop “Modernization of payment systems in Albania.”
The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, Luljeta Minxhozi, said that the Bank of Albania has intensified efforts together with the World Bank, the EU and the Regional Cooperation Council, in terms of the three main work priorities in the field of payment systems, such as: Implementation of the law “On payment services” (PSD2), participation in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and the building of Instant Payment system.
Deputy Governor Minxhozi emphasized that the approval of the regulatory framework that enables the full implementation of the law “On payment services” has already been finalized. Its implementation, on the one hand, opens up the market for third-party providers of payment services, and on the other hand, increases the requirements for strengthening security standards in payment processing. In this context, the current challenge remains the implementation of the “open banking” concept in practice, which offers opportunities for expanding payment services and increasing competition.
Further, she presented two major projects of the Bank of Albania: the application for Albania’s participation in the Single Payments Area, SEPA and the implementation of fast payments.
“Albania’s participation in SEPA will not only mark an extremely important step in the journey towards European integration, but also create facilities for Albanian businesses and consumers in terms of cost, time and streamlined procedures with which they will perform cross-border transactions within the European market”, she said, adding that the project will have a significant contribution in several strategic sectors, such as tourism and exports with the EU and the formalization of remittance flows.
The representative of the World Bank, Holti Banka, senior expert in the financial sector, welcomed the work done by the Bank of Albania in terms of devising a complete regulatory framework for the implementation of the law “On payment services”.
He emphasized that the WB is supporting all the countries of the Western Balkans region for the alignment of standards in the field of payments with those of the European Union. In particular, he emphasized the advantages of participating in SEPA for these countries. Participation in SEPA is expected to increase the efficiency of making payments, ease their execution and reduce costs. Also, the implementation of a fast payments infrastructure reinforces the advantages that derive from SEPA membership. The World Bank will assist the entire membership process for all Western Balkan countries.
/r.e/sm/
