BDL regulates e-banking branches

More bank branches per year will be possible

The Central Bank (BDL) announced that local banks are now allowed to open three local branches per year provided at least one of them is an electronic branch. The BDL defined electronic branches as those equipped with hi-tech tools, but should be only dedicated for inquiries and preliminary banking operations.

The law previously allowed banks to open only two branches locally per year. In order to grow faster, major banks acquired smaller-sized banking institutions to take over their branch network in the last two decades. Some banks recently started to open several ‘electronic branches’ to cope with traffic.

The BDL decided to regulate this growth by increasing the number of allowed branches to three per year, including at least one electronic branch. Banks are granted a six month period during which they are required to comply with the new decision.