Romania

Cash still plays a large role in Romanian shops. According to the World Bank Global Findex, 49% of adults used a card or phone to pay for an in-store purchase in 2024 and 37% did so weekly, which means about half of adults did not pay digitally in shops at all. RoPay, the national account-to-account service run by TransFonD and launched in October 2024, is designed for the point of sale as well as online: payers confirm payments in their banking app by scanning a QR code, tapping via NFC or using a phone-number alias, with funds settled within seconds.

Ecommerce Europe’s European E-Commerce Report 2025, cited by the ARMO online retailers’ association, expected Romanian e-commerce to reach 3.5% of GDP in 2025. National statistics (INS) show that in 2025, 74.3% of internet users aged 16–74 had bought online in the previous 12 months, with faster growth in rural areas. eMAG is the leading domestic marketplace, while non-EU platforms are a major competitor: ARMO estimates about 80 million non-EU parcels were destined for Romania in 2025. Cash on delivery remains an important option, and ARMO sees parcel locker networks as a growth area.

Banca Națională a României (the National Bank of Romania, BNR) authorises and supervises payment institutions and e-money institutions and oversees payment systems; PSD2, including strong customer authentication, is transposed by Law 209/2019 on payment services. TransFonD operates the SENT clearing house, its Plăți Instant service and the RoPay scheme, which was endorsed by the BNR. Law 239/2025 of December 2025 amended the Fiscal Procedure Code so that the “modern means of payment” businesses are expected to offer include app-based account-to-account payments, not only cards. Romania uses the leu rather than the euro, so domestic card and instant payments are processed in RON.

Romania has a sizeable unbanked population. According to the World Bank Global Findex, 71.3% of adults had an account in 2024, up from 69.1% in 2021 and 57.8% in 2017, leaving about 29% without one. Debit card ownership rose to 65.4% in 2024 from 52.6% in 2021, while 22.2% owned a credit card. In 2024, 50% made a digital merchant payment (in store or online) and 32% paid bills by phone or internet, so cash remains essential for many people.