The National Bank of Romania has announced that it authorised the instant payment system BLIK operation on the country’s territory. The move follows BLIK’s statement from March 2023, when the Poland-based payment company announced its expansion into Romania.

The firm planned to develop a digital payment system in RON, the local currency. Currently, the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania formally approved BLIK to operate on the region’s territory and provide its payment solutions as of 1 October 2024. The system is set to be managed and controlled by BLIK Romania, which ensures the settlement of ecommerce payment transactions with maximum values of RON 50,000. Furthermore, the National Bank of Romania mentioned in the official press release that it plans to permanently and consistently monitor the system to guarantee the appropriate implementation of the payment system in the region, as well as to ensure financial stability. The authorisation received from the National Bank of Romania follows BLIK’s expansion in Slovakia from July 2024, with the company collaborating with Tatra Banka to provide faster online purchases.

Users and customers of the Tatra Banka VIAMO mobile application were set to benefit from the ability to complete online purchases more conveniently and safely by utilising BLIK’s service. At that time, Tatra Banka mentioned its plans to make the BLIK payment methods available to its clients in the upcoming period. BLIK’s entry in Romania Being a payment system that can be accessed in mobile banking applications and connected to a bank account, BLIK allows payments both in online stores and traditional payment terminals, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs.

When it first announced its intentions to enter the Romanian market, BLIK was set to provide several advantages to the region, including increased security and payment simplification via the generation and usage of an individual six-digit code for every transaction. Valid for two minutes, the code could be utilised to initiate transactions either online, at a terminal, or an ATM. All transactions were then approved through the customer’s mobile banking app, which guaranteed both security and speed of payments. Moreover, BLIK chose to launch its payment solution in Romania due to the country’s economic expansion potential, being among the fastest growing ones within Europe.

Additionally, the company aimed to follow the payment system development strategy tested in Poland, which enabled it to support participants within the payments ecosystem with experience and proven business practices. Source: Link .