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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 07:39

Payments to become even simpler and faster in Lithuania

BC, Vilnius, 03.08.2018.Print version
Payments to become even simpler and faster in Lithuania

“These days mobile payments are increasingly becoming a go-to choice when making payments. For most of us, mobile phones are likely to replace our wallets in the near future. In developing the Bank of Lithuania’s payment system CENTROlink and its related infrastructure, we aim to facilitate instant payments via mobile devices for the lowest price, accessible to as many consumers in our country as possible,’ said Marius Jurgilas, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania. 


Having linked their phone number with the bank account, consumers will be able to make payments via payment service provider’s mobile app by selecting the recipient from their contact list or entering the recipient’s phone number. This way entering the account number will be no longer necessary. This service will be available to the clients of the payment service providers, which had given consent to link their phone number with their bank account.  

The Bank of Lithuania has already signed first agreements on the use of  the system for linking phone number with bank account with three country’s commercial banks through which almost a half of all the payments in Lithuania are executed. 

‘We are glad to welcome service providers, which decided to develop the service for linking phone number with bank account and encourage other Lithuanian and foreign banks, credit unions payment and e-money institutions to join and offer their clients this user-friendly service,’ said Marius Jurgilas. 

According to him, the commitment to co-develop the service will allow offering it for a larger number of consumers and, additionally, clients of different payment service providers will be able to use it as well. Instant payments, which are expected to see an upsurge already this year, would particularly benefit from this service. 

The payment system CENTROlink enables the payment service providers to offer their clients instant payments 24/7/365. How long will it take to offer these fast and convenient payments to their clients will now be solely up to banks and other payment service providers. CENTROlink is expanding at a fast pace – in the first half of 2018 alone, 8.625 mln transactions were executed, i.e. 52% more year on year, and their value increased by 34% – to 23.5 bln EUR. 

Several dozen payment service providers are using CENTROlink services, including banks and credit unions. Domestic and foreign payment and e-money institutions can also access these services through the Bank of Lithuania infrastructure. CENTROlink has the widest range of SEPA services in the Baltic-Nordic region, including instant payments and direct debit.

More: https://www.lb.lt/en/news/payments-to-become-even-simpler-and-faster-only-recipient-s-phone-number-will-be-needed-for-transfers






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