Advancing Digital Banking in Albania: Trust, Financial Literacy and Regulatory Readiness in the FinTech Ecosystem (OpenAlex (recherche mondiale))

Summary

• The empirical study analyzed Albania's digital banking ecosystem using quantitative data from a survey of 151 respondents and qualitative data from 15 semi-structured interviews.p.1
• Electronic payments per adult in Albania increased from around 5 in 2018 to 29 in the most recent reporting period.p.4
• Card-based transactions account for around 67% of electronic payments, supported by approximately 1.6 million payment cards in circulation.p.4
• Approximately 80% of survey respondents reported an increase in their digital banking usage during or after the COVID-19 pandemic.p.8

Key insights

1. Bank of Albania reporting shows 9 out of 11 commercial banks offer internet banking services and 8 out of 11 provide mobile banking platforms.p.4
2. Online-accessed bank accounts in Albania expanded by 388% and transaction volume from these accounts grew by 296% compared to 2018 levels.p.4
3. Payment acceptance infrastructure expanded through a 258% increase in physical POS terminals since 2018 alongside 342 active virtual POS terminals.p.4
4. Survey demography showed that 54.3% of respondents were under 30 years of age and 84.1% resided in urban locations.p.7
5. Around 74% of respondents viewed the future of digital banking in Albania positively, and 76.8% expressed readiness to increase future usage.p.9