21.06.2024.

Rising number and value of instant payment transactions

Q1 2024 saw a sharp increase in the number of instant payments, by 30% y-o-y, to the highest quarterly number of payments since the launch of the system in October 2018. There were 19.6 million payments worth RSD 210.4 bn and the average daily number of transactions was 214,860 – over 47 thousand more than in Q1 2023. The number of payments also hit a new daily record of 382,002 on 14 February1.

At end-Q1 2024, more than half a million users had registered for the Transfer service – the option to send money simply and quickly by using the mobile phone number only. As a result, the number of transactions doubled from Q1 2023. Service registration is fast and very simple, and can be done within the m-banking application. For more information on registration and other advantages, visit: It’s good to know – Transfer service.

The public can also make instant payments of duties and fees for services provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Tax Administration by scanning the NBS IPS QR Code on the uniform paper slip generated on the e-Government portal – e-Pay (for more information, visit the following link).

Apart from making instant credit transfers to any payee with a current account in a bank, the NBS IPS payment system enables the following:

  • payment of monthly bills for utility and other services by scanning the unique NBS IPS QR code printed on the bill/invoice;
  • payment at brick-and-mortar and online points-of-sale using the IPS Scan and IPS Show options;
  • payment by IPS Scan at online points-of-sale, where payment is executed via deep link technology in a few clicks2;
  • payment using the Transfer service – by using a designated payee’s code, i.e. mobile phone number3;
  • the Generator/Validator services (available on the NBS website) which enable the generation (technical preparation) and validation (technical verification) of the NBS IPS QR code.

Accurate and up-to-date information on instant payments and the advantages of this state-of-the-art and fastest type of payment: IPS (Instant Payments Serbia) website.

A graphic overview of data on the provision of payment services and the issuance of e-money for Q1 2024: NBS | Statistics.  

1 The above record was broken again on 15 May when 432,875 instant payments were made.
2 By end-March this year, services via deep link technology were enabled by 15 banks.
3 At the time this press release was published, 11 banks provided the Transfer service. The list of banks offering this service: IPS - NBS | An overview of the services offered by participants in the IPS NBS system in connection with instant payments.

Payment System Department