Digital Payments & Fintech - Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Bank licenses and supervises payment institutions, e-money institutions and payment-system operators under the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act (PSPSA), which transposes PSD2; secondary rules are set in BNB Ordinance No 16.

Distinct authorisations exist for PIs and EMIs with graduated minimum capital (e.g. ~BGN 700,000 for EMIs; BGN 40,000/100,000/125,000 tiers for payment institutions depending on services), with the BNB deciding within three months of a complete application.

Licensed PIs and EMIs are entered in the BNB's official public register and can passport their services across the entire EEA; live licensees include BORICA AD (PI) and Econt Financial Services (EMI).

PSD2 access-to-account/open-banking obligations are fully integrated into Bulgarian supervisory and business practice, with API testing infrastructure (e.g. a developer test portal) available to TPPs and fintechs.

The domestic SEPA-compliant instant scheme BLINK (operated by BORICA via BISERA6) settles interbank transfers in seconds, 24/7; instant euro payments launched December 2024 and BISERA connects to the Eurosystem's TIPS for SEPA reachability.

Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 (rate 1.95583 BGN/EUR), aligning payment systems with the Eurosystem; BNPL and consumer-credit fintech are governed by the EU Consumer Credit Directive (CCD2), to be transposed nationally with application from 20 November 2026.