A branchless challenger is testing whether a cash-heavy economy can leapfrog into digital finance – and whether the EU will open its market before accession day
By Brian Maguire
Albania might seem an unlikely home for a bank with no branches. Cash still moves much of the economy, and a large informal sector sits outside the formal financial system. Yet it is here that the Western Balkans’ first fully digital bank has taken root.
That bank, Jet Bank, is the region’s first to run on a wholly digital, branchless model, according to Elvin Meka, vice rector and dean of the faculty of business and law at Tirana Business University College. He calls it a new reality in Albanian finance.
The contrast is the point. In an economy defined by cash and informality, Meka sees a “leapfrogging” moment – a “laggard opportunity” that “may turn into a big business advantage by tapping not only the existing customer base, but also the unbanked or underbanked consumer”.
