The National Bank of Moldova’s (NBM) MIA Instant Payments project has received two awards at the International Customer Experience Awards 2026: gold in the “Best Business Change and Transformation” category and silver in the “Best Citizen Experience” category. The awards were presented at a ceremony in London on November 5, 2026.
The distinctions recognise the international impact of the transformation brought about by MIA in the Republic of Moldova’s payment ecosystem, as well as the benefits it has delivered to individuals and businesses through simpler, faster and more accessible financial services.
The gold award in the “Best Business Change and Transformation” category highlights the scale of the change: the development of shared instant payment infrastructure and the mobilisation of the financial sector to turn that infrastructure into practical services for individuals and businesses.
The silver award in the “Best Citizen Experience” category recognises the project’s focus on citizens’ needs, the simplification of the payment experience and its contribution to financial inclusion.
“These awards reflect the work of the NBM team and the contribution of everyone who helped develop MIA alongside us. Together with commercial banks, non-bank payment service providers, technology solution providers and institutional partners, we built the infrastructure and integrated MIA into payment applications.
“As a result, we have given people a simpler way to make payments, while entrepreneurs can receive money from customers more quickly, directly into their accounts. This recognition encourages us to continue developing MIA so that more people and businesses can benefit from instant payments through accessible, secure and user-friendly solutions,” said National Bank of Moldova Governor Anca Dragu.
Launched in March 2024, MIA Instant Payments was initiated in 2022 by the late Deputy Governor Arcadie Albul. The system enables money transfers within seconds, at any time of day, including weekends and public holidays.
In less than three years, MIA has reached nearly 1.1 million users and processed more than 38.8 million transactions, with a total value of approximately 36 billion lei.
The expansion of MIA to payments in physical stores and online, public service payments and business-to-business transactions is making digital payments easier to use and contributing to the modernisation of Moldova’s economy.