Tirana Bank Selects Backbase to Lead Digital Banking Revolution in Southeast Europe

Backbase, the leader in engagement banking, announces Tirana Bank has chosen its Engagement Banking Platform to power an ambitious digital transformation that will reshape banking experiences for their new and existing customers. The partnership represents Tirana Bank’s largest-ever technology investment, surpassing previous core banking implementations, and signals the bank’s bold move to become the region’s digital banking leader. 

Backed by Albania’s largest business conglomerate, BALFIN Group, Tirana Bank is poised for unprecedented growth, as it plans to triple its current digital customer base users over the agreed term.

Jouk Pleiter, CEO & Founder at Backbase: “Tirana Bank’s vision for digital transformation perfectly aligns with our mission to help banks re-architect around their customers, and drastically improve their operating models utilizing our Engagement Banking Platform. This partnership showcases the growing demand for a sophisticated all-in-one banking platform and reinforces our position as the partner of choice for forward-thinking financial institutions in the region and beyond.”

The five-year strategic partnership will initially focus on revolutionizing Tirana Bank’s retail banking services through:

• A comprehensive suite of digital servicing capabilities, including web and mobile banking applications
• Digital lending capabilities for credit cards and consumer loans
• Planned future expansion of these capabilities to business banking customers.

The implementation leverages Backbase’s cloud-native platform, providing an evergreen service model that maintains the highest security, regulatory and compliance standards. This allows Tirana Bank to rapidly scale operations, deliver personalized customer experiences, and independently innovate new features. Moving from an in-house digital stack to Backbase’s best-in-class platform infrastructure positions Tirana Bank to capitalize on continuous innovation through rapid release cycles. 

The bank has assembled an elite team of international banking and digital transformation experts to drive this initiative, demonstrating its commitment to bringing global banking excellence to the Albanian market.

Dritan Mustafa, CEO at Tirana Bank: “Our vision is to become the leading digital bank in Albania, and this transformative partnership with Backbase is the cornerstone of that strategy. We’re embarking on an ambitious growth journey to triple our digital customer base, and Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform gives us the technological foundation and flexibility we need to scale rapidly while delivering the innovative, customer-centric banking experiences that will drive our expansion. This represents more than a technology upgrade – it’s about fundamentally transforming banking in Albania and setting new standards for the region.”

The bank selected Backbase following a competitive tender, citing the Engagement Banking platform’s flexibility, cloud-native architecture, and proven track record of enabling banks to innovate at speed. The implementation, led by Backbase’s delivery partner, Endava, gives Tirana Bank the unique ability to go-to-market faster and build on top of the platform, through Endava’s AI expertise and innovative capabilities.

John Cotterell, CEO of Endava: “AI is transforming financial services, enabling banks to deliver hyper-personalised experiences and drive operational efficiency like never before. By combining our deep engineering expertise with Backbase’s cutting-edge technology, we’re equipping Tirana Bank with the tools to meet evolving customer expectations while strengthening resilience through progressive platform modernization.”