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Payment trends and developments in the Western Balkan countries: An interview with Aleksandar Birovljev
Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems,
11
(4),
285-291
(2018)
Abstract
The Western Balkan region — comprising Albania and five former Yugoslav republics — represents an emerging market for payments. Current cashless payments volumes are low and there is significant potential for the development of electronic payments. Although the six different economic and administrative areas have different potential for growth, there are many similarities between these markets, as well as a historic interconnection between their economies and business. Once businesses start to grow beyond their national borders, their expansion into neighbouring countries will be facilitated by the similar language and the interconnectivity of these markets. Cash is still king in the Western Balkans. However, the number of non-cash transactions is slowly growing. A major challenge for online payments in the Western Balkan countries relates to the high costs for processing transactions — card assessment fees are up to four times higher than in the EU. Central banks have announced plans to align domestic policies with EU regulations, such as the Interchange Regulation and PDS2, which could lead to market liberalisation and lower transaction costs.
Keywords: Western Balkans; cashless payments; fraud; banks; e-commerce; FinConf 2017
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Diederik Bruggink is Managing Director of Bruggink Consultancy and is an independent international expert in cards, payments, and market infrastructures. During his career, he has led and worked on several international and high-visibility projects, mainly with a focus on cashless payments, across the whole payments value chain, from (e-commerce) merchant acquisition through to issuing banks and within card switching and card processing organisations. He was one of the key authors of the first three editions of the ‘World Payments Report’, and he makes regular appearances on conferences in the cards and payments industry. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems.
Aleksandar Birovljev is a digital entrepreneur & e-commerce expert at Gampo+. His experience in the Western Balkan region spans over 16 years in the fields of e-commerce, online payments, e-business, marketing, franchising, investment opportunities, startup mentoring and business model evaluation. He is a highly qualified and experienced professional with a proven track record in high-profile projects in the area of e-business and payments. His previous work has included the creation of a payment facilitator business model, payment cards acceptance for the Amadeus ticketing system, multi-currency support for e-commerce merchants, PayPal registration through e-banking and consultancy services for the World Trade Organization.
