Albania in SEPA – standards and costs for citizens and businesses aligned with EU member states

Albania’s membership in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) will enable citizens and businesses to make cashless euro payments more easily, quickly, cheaply, and securely, both domestically and abroad, economic analyst Eduart Gjokutaj explained for Kosovo Online.

By Bledar Kuka

He emphasized that the goal of SEPA is to ensure that all electronic euro transfers, whether within one country or between SEPA member states, are made under the same conditions.

“Membership in SEPA, a step toward our country’s European financial integration, introduces the same standards and costs at which EU member states conduct business with one another. This creates opportunities for greater efficiency, speed, and interaction between various actors, citizens with each other, citizens with businesses, and businesses with one another. This membership makes the financial system more flexible, aligning it with EU standards and accelerating interaction,” Gjokutaj stressed.

He explained that costs for citizens will be much lower than before.

“Moreover, transactions will be completed within a single business day. For businesses, that means lower costs and faster interaction with European companies, better integration into EU markets, and of course, closer cooperation, which also increases reliability. Overall, the economy benefits in terms of trust and faster communication, bringing our country closer to standards that until now were not as unified or developed as in EU member states,” Gjokutaj said.

It has been announced that Albanian emigrants and their families will be able to save up to tens of millions of euros annually thanks to the transfer of remittances through SEPA banking channels.

At the regional level, until now, sending money between Western Balkan businesses could cost up to ten times more than similar transactions within the European Union. With SEPA, these costs will align with European standards.

“Banks in Albania should engage in broad communication with citizens and provide all necessary information to avoid misunderstandings about fees, since those are the most important. Fees are directly linked to public trust. If the fees do not match official announcements, public confidence will drop, and SEPA membership will fall into disuse, offering fewer benefits to citizens. In that case, the expectations expressed by the Bank of Albania or the country’s political leaders would not be fulfilled,” Gjokutaj concluded.

During the official launch of SEPA in Albania, EU Delegation Ambassador Silvio Gonzato said that the country’s membership in the single euro payment area is a milestone on Albania’s path to EU accession.

“This is tangible progress for Albanian citizens, demonstrating what it truly means to become an EU member state. It was achieved after long and demanding work, requiring joint efforts and commitment from the banking sector and Albanian authorities to meet the standards and requirements of the European Payments Council, including the fight against money laundering, which is essential for SEPA membership. This is a very concrete result of our joint efforts within the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which aims to accelerate the integration of Albania and the region into the EU and deliver concrete benefits to citizens even before membership,” Ambassador Gonzato said.

Governor of the Bank of Albania Gent Sejko described the country’s membership as a “historic moment for Albania’s financial market,” emphasizing that it is the result of long-term work and inter-institutional cooperation.

“The European standard has become a reality for Albania, placing our payment infrastructure on the same level as that of EU member states. Integration into SEPA, combined with the expansion of digital payments, is expected to generate savings of around €20 million in the first year, with these savings increasing progressively in the coming years. For comparison, the Bank of Albania’s AIPS-Euro system, launched in 2022, has already saved the domestic market about €140 million through reduced commissions. This shows that SEPA’s impact will be even greater, reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency for citizens and businesses. From a broader perspective, SEPA integration brings social and regional benefits, from reducing informality and transfer costs to boosting financial inclusion and convergence with the European market,” Sejko stated.

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) was established in 2008. Slovenia was the first country in the region to join, followed by Croatia in 2016. Albania and Montenegro were jointly admitted to SEPA in November 2024, and both began implementation of the system on October 7, 2025.