Digitalization Of Banking Services In Kosovo: Trends And Comparison With The Neighborhood Countries

As in many sectors of the economy digital technologies are transforming retail financial services. The digital transformation will continue to shape this sector in coming years, and has already resulted in new products and processes that are developed and implemented by banks. By embracing digitalization, banks create opportunity to branch out, reduce costs, collaborate with other sectors, provide customers with more diverse solutions and provide enhanced customer services. This provides convenience to customers and helps in saving time. Kosovo banking industry has undergone a long way in electronics banking in the past years, starting from notech (money exchangers on the street, salaries paid in cash and almost no ATM availability) to low-tech (salaries through banks, high use of ATMs and Debit Cards), to the start of the high-tech era (digital/online banking) with almost all banks currently undertaking something in the digital transformation. Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe and demographic trends are in favor of the acceleration of digitalization going forward. So, the aim of this article is to understand the trends of digitalization and innovation of banking services in Kosovo, the role of the “digital native” younger generations so called Millennials and Generation Z in the economy and comparison with the neighborhood countries.