Bulgaria Euro Payments transformation wins BORICA and OpenWay a PAY360 Award
BORICA AD and OpenWay have won the Best Partnership Initiative Award at the PAY360 Awards 2026 for their work on Bulgaria’s national payment infrastructure and the country’s transition to the euro.
The recognition highlights a multi-year modernization programme that brought together Bulgaria’s national payment infrastructure operator, OpenWay’s payment technology and more than 35 banks, payment service providers, fintech companies, government institutions and technology partners.
The partnership faced its biggest test on January 1, 2026, when Bulgaria adopted the euro and its payment ecosystem had to transition to the new currency under live operating conditions without disrupting everyday transactions.
Bulgaria Euro Payments transformation required years of preparation
BORICA and OpenWay have worked together since 2018 to modernize Bulgaria’s card processing infrastructure. OpenWay’s Way4 real-time digital payment platform became a key part of BORICA’s national card processing environment.
The transition involved more than simply changing the currency displayed on payment transactions. Card issuing, merchant acquiring, switching, ATM and POS management, fraud prevention and transaction processing all had to be prepared for the euro environment.
More than 35 financial institutions and technology partners were involved in the programme. Extensive testing, simulations and operational rehearsals were conducted before the final cutover.
The objective was to ensure that consumers could continue using cards and withdrawing cash normally when the euro became Bulgaria’s official currency.
Bulgaria Euro Payments transition passed its first real world test
The first minutes of January 1 provided an immediate test of the infrastructure.
According to BORICA and OpenWay, the first successful euro ATM withdrawal took place only 20 seconds after the new currency environment went live.
During the first 48 hours, the payment infrastructure processed more than 930,000 card and ATM transactions worth nearly €42 million. The companies reported zero unplanned downtime during that period.
The figures demonstrate the scale of the transition. Instead of testing the new infrastructure only in controlled environments, the system had to handle real consumer transactions across the country’s financial ecosystem immediately after the currency change.
Bulgaria Euro Payments infrastructure relied on unified processing
A major element of the programme was the decision to build the transition around BORICA’s existing Way4-based national card infrastructure rather than introducing fragmented parallel systems.
The platform supported multiple areas of the payment ecosystem, including card issuing, merchant acquiring, switching, ATM and POS management, fraud prevention and transaction processing.
This unified architecture allowed the teams to coordinate the euro transition across multiple financial institutions while maintaining transaction traceability and operational continuity.
The approach also meant that the infrastructure could continue serving consumers and merchants while the underlying payment environment underwent a major regulatory and currency transformation.
Bulgaria Euro Payments award recognizes partnership and execution
The PAY360 award recognizes the partnership between BORICA and OpenWay rather than simply the underlying technology.
For a national currency transition, technology is only one component of the challenge. Banks, payment providers, merchants, regulators and infrastructure operators must coordinate their systems and processes around a fixed deadline.
The successful launch therefore depended on operational planning, repeated testing and close coordination across the ecosystem. The absence of unplanned downtime during the initial 48 hours provided an important measure of how that preparation translated into live performance.
The award adds to international recognition already received by the project. In July, BORICA and OpenWay received two Global Transaction Banking Innovation Awards for the euro transition programme.
Bulgaria Euro Payments transition offers a model for national infrastructure
Bulgaria’s experience illustrates the growing importance of modern payment infrastructure as countries undertake large-scale financial transformations.
Euro adoption required Bulgaria’s payment ecosystem to change its currency environment while continuing to support everyday commerce. The project demonstrates how real-time processing platforms can be used to manage complex changes across banks, payment channels and financial institutions without requiring consumers to change how they make routine payments.
For BORICA, the successful transition strengthens its position as a national financial infrastructure operator. For OpenWay, the project demonstrates how its Way4 platform can support mission-critical payment processing during a major national transformation.
As other markets consider modernization of payment infrastructure, Bulgaria’s euro transition could provide a useful example of how centralized coordination, unified technology and extensive operational testing can reduce the risk of disruption during a large-scale financial change.