Serbia's instant payment system processed more than 106 million transactions in 2025, marking a 25 percent year-on-year increase and establishing the National Bank of Serbia's IPS as one of the fastest-growing instant payment platforms in Southeastern Europe. In 2024, the system had handled 85.3 million transactions, itself a 30.9 percent jump from the prior year, creating a sustained pattern of accelerating adoption across consecutive years.
The system set a new single-day record on November 14, 2025, processing 565,213 payments worth RSD 7.06 billion. The most recent monthly data from February 2026 shows the system averaged 378,455 payments per day with an average execution time of one second, handling RSD 130.9 billion in turnover across 28 days.
This growth takes on broader strategic significance as Serbia has been incorporated into the SEPA payment schemes' geographical scope. The earliest Operational Readiness Date for Serbian payment service providers is set for May 2026, after which institutions can begin processing SEPA credit transfers and instant credit transfers in euro alongside their existing dinar-denominated services.
The NBS operates six distinct payment systems that collectively form one of the more comprehensive central-bank-run payment infrastructures in the region. The RTGS handles large-value gross settlement, while a separate batch clearing system processes retail payments. The IPS provides instant transfers, and three additional systems cover interbank foreign exchange clearing, international foreign exchange clearing, and DinaCard card transaction clearing. The RTGS and clearing systems share a single technical platform while remaining logically separated. In 2024, these two systems combined processed 227.2 million transactions worth RSD 215.1 trillion. The RTGS accounts for 92.5 percent of combined transaction volume by count and 99.8 percent by value, with a mandatory threshold of RSD 300,000 for gross settlement.
Cross-border clearing links with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro facilitate regional payment flows across the Western Balkans. System availability reached 100 percent in 2024 across the NBS payment infrastructure. Operating hours run from 09:00 to 18:00 CET on business days for the RTGS, while the IPS operates continuously around the clock.