Sarajevo, 30 May 2019

With purpose of correct information for the public, related to the statements on the competences of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) with regard to payment systems, the CBBH is obliged to react and inform the public on the facts related to this issue.

The CBBH operates according to the constitutional and legal competences and none of its activities is aimed at taking over the competences of other institutions or bodies.

On 05 January 2001, the CBBH has established the platform for the settlement of interbank payment transactions for giro clearing (GC) and real time gross settlement (RTGS), according to the Law on the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Law) – Article 2 paragraph 3 and Article 7 paragraph 1 under b).

Only the settlements of interbank payment orders are carried out through payment systems, and the legal regulations which fall within the competences of the Entities regulate the payment transactions carried out only in commercial banks.  

According to the Law, the CBBH maintains the payment system platforms and regulates the way of their use through the operative rules for GC and RTGS. With regard to this, the Governing Board of the CBBH has made a decision, the purpose of which is the full adjustment of the payment system platform to the European Union (EU) standards, i.e. the adjustment of the GC system in BH to the GC system in the EU (SEPA – the Single Euro Payment Area).

The operative rules regulate the way of communication, equipment, formats in which messages are delivered in the system. The CBBH monitors the actions of the participants (commercial banks) in these systems only according to the defined rules, so that the system could function.

The CBBH has not performed and does not perform the control or supervision of commercial banks in the internal payment system, and it is not its intention to do so in the future.