What is happening to foreign exchange points? - Historical record of license removal by the Bank of Albania. 82 were "pulled" from the market in 2025
Have you ever been impressed by how many currency exchange points there are in Albania? In the capital, for example, you can easily find an office for exchanging foreign currencies and Albanian lek on every corner. Statistics from the Bank of Albania confirm the same.
Currently, there are 597 foreign exchange offices spread across the country. In 2025, fewer offices were added than in 2024. Data from the Bank of Albania shows that only 33 new offices were licensed last year, which means that growth continues, but at a slower pace than before, returning to the levels of 2021.
In parallel with their smaller growth compared to previous years, we also have a historical record of license revocations. The Bank of Albania has revoked the licenses of 82 such points, 57 more than in 2024.
The reasons behind this are mainly the non-implementation of legal and regulatory obligations related to money laundering and terrorist financing. In future reports of the Bank of Albania, more details on the reasons for the revocations are expected to be published.
Despite the numerous revocations, currency exchange points in Albania continue to be numerous. Two of the factors influencing their growth are the influx of foreign tourists, as there is a high demand for exchanging foreign currencies for lek when they visit Albania, as well as the remittances of Albanian emigrants, which are mainly in euros and Albanians within the country exchange them for lek, because their expenses are in the national currency.
In the case of foreign tourists, this demand for currency exchange points is expected to decrease further, as a result of the increase in POS terminals by Albanian businesses. This means that they will not need physical cash to make payments, as many Albanian businesses will offer them the option of using a card.
What about geographical distribution?
Due to the greater concentration of population in the capital, over 200 currency exchange points are found in Tirana alone.
How has 2026 started for foreign exchange points?
In the first two months of the year alone, 4 new licenses were granted by the Bank of Albania and only one was revoked.
If we make a projection into the future, where Albania becomes a member state of the European Union and later enters the Eurozone, thus adopting the euro as its national currency, the foreign exchange market is expected to experience a “shock”. This is because most of these offices operate mainly for the exchange of euros into lek and vice versa.
Until then, this market will continue to "thrive", but always being "targeted" by the Bank of Albania regarding the implementation of regulations for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as it should be.
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