Governor Slaveski: Instant payments to enable transfers in a matter of seconds, 24 hours a day

2026-09-17

Skopje, 17 September 2026

The development of payments systems is one of the National Bank’s priorities, while introducing instant payments through the national platform, which is a TIPS clone, will represent an important step toward modernization of the domestic payment infrastructure. This was pointed out by the Governor of the National Bank Trajko Slaveski during an interview on the central news programme on the Macedonian television.

“The TIPS clone is an instant payment system where payments will be executed within a few seconds, at relatively low cost, 24 hours a day, unlike the situations we are facing where we need to wait after the working hours are over, expecting the money until the next day, or for two days. The money arrives instantly, 365 days a year”, pointed out the Governor.

He explained that, in the initial phase, instant payments will be executed through existing mobile and electronic banking channels, enabling faster and simpler transfers of funds, regardless of the banks’ working hours or the day of the week. Slaveski highlighted that the further development of instant payments will create opportunities for new forms of payments, such as mobile payments at POS, using QR codes, mobile phones or e-mail, without additional intermediaries that increase cost.

The introduction of TIPS clone is part of the National Bank broader activities aimed at advancing payment infrastructure, increasing the efficiency of payments, and ensuring modern, fast and accessible payment services for citizens and businesses.

The Governor also emphasized the European significance of this initiative. North Macedonia is among the Western Balkans countries that have been offered the opportunity to join the European Central Bank’s instant payment system even before becoming an EU member.

Speaking about the National Bank activities in the field of payment systems, the Governor also referred to the country’s accession to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), as of 7 October last year. As a result of this integration, around 60% of the total cross-border euro payments are currently executed through SEPA, which, as he pointed out, contributed to significant reduction in costs, i.e. fees for citizens and companies.