The Albanian financial system will be joined for the first time by a fully digital bank. The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania decided to grant preliminary approval for the licensing of Jet Bank to carry out banking and financial activities in the Republic of Albania.
"JET Bank aims to be the first bank in Albania to operate entirely digitally, combining advanced technology with a simple, secure and customer-centric model. Its mission is to introduce a new financial service model, different from traditional banking models," the decision of the Supervisory Council of the BoA states.
The Law "On Banks in the Republic of Albania" stipulates that the licensing of banks goes through two stages: preliminary approval of the license and the granting of the license.
According to the law, the branch of a foreign bank that has received preliminary approval for a license must, within 12 months, meet all the conditions provided for in the law "On Banks in the Republic of Albania" and the sub-legal acts implementing it, in order to be issued with a license to commence banking activity.
Time advantage and lower costs
JET Bank becomes the second entity to receive prior approval from the Bank of Albania to enter the banking market in recent months, after Turkish bank Ziraat. These two approvals bring the number of banks in the Albanian market to 13.
After a long phase of consolidation, where the number of banks in the country decreased significantly due to mergers or acquisitions, the Albanian financial system has apparently entered an expansion cycle again with the entry of new players into the market.
Jet Bank is owned by a group of British businessmen. It is an innovation in the market, as it is the first fully digital bank, which gives it the advantage of time, but also costs. Generally, digital banks offer services at lower costs for customers, but also without the need for their physical presence at the counters.
Apparently, these are the advantages through which Jet Bank aims to enter the populated banking market in Albania.
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