In the first quarter of this year, a total of 93,355 financial contracts were concluded using remote contracting services. This represents a 58.4% increase compared to the same period in 2024, when 58,920 contracts were concluded, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced.
Besides banking payment service providers, non-banking payment service providers who have met the necessary conditions for video identification of users also offered remote contracting services in the first quarter of this year.
When a user contracts financial services for the first time from banking or non-banking payment service providers, a video identification process is conducted. In the first quarter of 2025, 25,506 contracts were concluded using this method, marking a 79.9% increase compared to the same period last year. Of the total contracts concluded with video identification, 964 (3.8%) pertain to payment services offered by non-banking providers. The share of contracts concluded via video identification in all remote contracts during the first quarter of 2025 was 27.3%, up by 3.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2024, NBS stated.
The remaining contracts in the first quarter of 2025, totaling 67,849 or 72.7%, were concluded through other electronic methods. This category saw a 51.6% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024 and includes cases where users with an existing business relationship contract additional services.
Regarding the types of financial products offered by banking payment service providers, citizens used remote contracting more extensively in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Specifically, contracts for demand/time deposits increased by 113.6% (13,927 vs. 6,519), payment account openings rose by 107.8% (21,696 vs. 10,443), other services increased by 61.4% (8,521 vs. 5,279), overdraft services by 37.4% (18,981 vs. 13,819), and cash loans by 28% (29,266 vs. 22,860), the NBS concluded.
