Governor Fabio Panetta signs the letter of intent for North Macedonia's participation in the TIPS Clone initiative

15 October 2025

At the 2025 Annual Meetings held in Washington by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Governor of Banca d'Italia, Fabio Panetta, alongside his counterparts from five central banks in the Western Balkans, signed a letter of intent concerning the TIPS Clone initiative.

The first letter was signed in January, launching the implementation phase. The new agreement ratifies the participation of North Macedonia, which now joins Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Montenegro in the TIPS Clone project.

The project involves the development by Banca d'Italia of an instant payment platform based on a clone of its TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) infrastructure - which it originally built, and now operates, for the euro area. TIPS Clone is due to become operational in July 2026 and will be made available to the five Balkan countries.

Today's signing marks a concrete step toward bringing these countries closer to the European Union and aligning their payment systems with Eurosystem standards. With North Macedonia joining TIPS, regional cooperation gains further momentum and the parties involved reaffirm their shared commitment to modernizing payments and cross-border interoperability.