Albanians are making fewer payments in cash, as they’re getting used to make the majority of them through credit cards. This phenomenon is confirmed by the Bank of Albania in its recent report, which says that there’s a constant growth of the number of electronic cards, debit or credit, with which individuals are making their different payments. “During 2016, there was an increase of 5.5% in the number of debit cards that were issued and a 5.9% increase in the number of credit cards”, the Central Bank reports.
This indicates a strong connection that Albanians have recently forged with technology as such, while banks have boosted their capacities in issuing cards, based on the demands that they receive. Here, we may add the fact that last year, Albania had 14 licensed banks to emit cards, 9 of which operate with cards, reflecting a growth by 1 bank compared to the previous year, 2015 (out of 16 banks in total operating in our banking system).
“Also, in 2016 exerted their activity in the market two institutions of electronic money”, the Bank of Albania adds, further arguing that on the other hand, the introduction of cards which act as electronic money has registered a rapid growth during the year.
“If we analyze the use of bank cards in ATMS and POSs, we will see that most of the processed transactions are occupied by cash withdrawals in ATMs, which indicates that this is an economy which still has a high usage of cash”, is another argument given by experts of the Bank of Albania.
Smartphones enable banking payments in distance through the internet
Another phenomenon which is seen like a recent expanding trend relates to bank payment in distance through the internet. “Recently, home bank services are spreading more and more in the Albanian market”, confirm experts of the Bank of Albania. Meanwhile, they also stress that at the end of 2016, 14 out of 16 banks that exert their activity in our country, offer their different products through this method known as home banking. According to them, these products enable access to bank accounts in distance, through an internet line, a telephone line or a software that the bank makes available for its customers.
“Bank report a significant growth of 27.63% of the volume of payments through home banking and a growth of 21.51% of the value of transactions compared to a year ago”, experts of the Bank of Albania say. Furthermore, they argue that the growth of the number of home banking transactions dictates to a great extent the developments of the market in this aspect, adding the fact that the growing trend of the use of home banking is closely linked with the existence of infrastructure and the expansion of opportunities to access internet through a smart phone.
Number of POS payments goes up, but cash machines are still in great number
“In 2016 there was a significant growth of the number and the value of card and virtual payments, namely 28.9% and 21.2%, continuing the positive trend registered in the recent years”. This is another fact which is pointed out by experts of the Bank of Albania, referring to the payments which are made in different points. The experts also add that while at the end of 2016, the number of POS terminals marked a growth of 6.31%, the number ATMs has marked a slight drop of 3.15%.
But, according to experts of the Bank of Albania, “in spite of the positive trend in the number of POS terminals, they too seem to be concentrated in Tirana too, with 8.76% of the total number, while terminals for the use of cards with electronic money continue to grow, namely by 13.9% compared to the end of 215”. This confirms the fact that on a national scale, ATMs continue to be more present, compared to POS system of payments which are mainly located in the capital.
