Historical, Albania launches SEPA payments - Maximum 3 euro commission for remittances. Millions of euros in savings for Albanians
From October 7, every Albanian immigrant can send money to their family in Albania using SEPA. Albanians within the country can also initiate transactions in euros to other countries through this system.
The payment infrastructure in Albania is experiencing a profound transformation, initially with AIPS, now with SEPA and soon with the instant payment system, a clone of the Bank of Italy's TIPS system.
The Single Euro Payments Area, SEPA, is a European Union initiative that will enable Albanians to make electronic payments in euros from Albania to a number of EU member and non-member countries or from the latter to Albania, in a fast, secure and efficient manner, just like national payments.
SEPA consists of 41 European countries, including several states that are not part of the Eurozone and the European Union.
According to the Bank of Albania, by making transfers through SEPA, the cost of cross-border payments in euros with member countries of the scheme is estimated to be at least 5 times lower. According to the Bank's estimates, the savings for the Albanian economy could be at least 20 million euros in the first year, to increase continuously.
How much will the commissions be for the money that Albanians within the country send abroad?
For transactions up to 20 thousand euros originating from Albania to other countries, commissions will be a maximum of 2 euros, for transactions up to 100 thousand euros they will be 0.01% of the value, while for transactions over 100 thousand euros, commissions will be a maximum of 25 euros. These transactions can be fees that an Albanian student pays to the European university where he studies, money transfers from Albanians within the country to their family members outside Albania, payments by Albanian businesses to a foreign supplier, and others.
What about the money that immigrants bring from abroad?
For transactions originating from SEPA countries, fees will not exceed 3 euros. For example, if a relative of yours sends money from Italy to Albania via SEPA, Albanian banks will charge a maximum of 3 euros in fees from this amount.
Considering the high value of remittances from emigrants, where in the first half of this year alone approximately 531 million euros were brought in, participation in this scheme will provide millions of euros in savings to Albanian families.
How can a SEPA transfer be made?
SEPA transfers can be made both through bank counters, and through electronic banking or bank applications. Simply log in to the bank application with your credentials and access your bank account. The only element you will need to enter is the beneficiary's name, the beneficiary's IBAN, and the amount in euros that you want to transfer. To make a SEPA payment, you need an IBAN in euros.
All we have to do is click on approve the transfer and the transfer goes through in real time. For fast SEPA transfers, it happens instantly, for normal transfers, one to two business days is enough.
Albania signed the official application for SEPA membership in June 2024. We were the first country in the region to submit a formal application to be admitted to the SEPA geographical area. Following the decision to approve the extension of the SEPA geographical area to include Albania in November 2024, each payment service provider (PSP) in the country and wishing to carry out SEPA transfers applied individually to join the SEPA schemes. On April 16, banks were admitted to the Single Euro Payments Area.
With membership in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), Albania is now considered integrated into the European Union in terms of payments.
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