Israeli Investor Gains Online Banking Monopoly with JET Bank – Approved by Gent Sejko
The Bank of Albania has licensed JET Bank, a 100% digital banking model, thereby granting it a monopoly in online banking.
Next, JET Bank will enter a preliminary testing phase, during which the bank will be accessible to a selected group of users. But who are these selected individuals? Who will have access, and why exactly these people? This is still unknown.
According to the Bank of Albania, JET Bank is the first bank aiming to operate entirely in digital form in Albania, without physical branches, as part of the broader strategy for the digitalization of payments and the “Cashless Albania 2030” initiative.
JET Bank is 100% owned by Jet Holdings B.V., based in the Netherlands, and the main beneficiary is the Israeli-British investor Idan Avishai.
But have the suitability of the shareholders, the legality of the sources of funds, and compliance with requirements for preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism been verified by Jet Bank?
Since it is a fully online bank, will customer data be stored in accordance with EU standards and in compliance with the European data protection regulation?
The institution does not provide an exact figure for the capital invested so far, does not explain in detail the specific source of the capital beyond the general formulation of “lawful sources,” and does not disclose the full structure of the six shareholder companies behind Jet Holdings, which according to reports were created recently and without a long history of activity.
Likewise, there has been no specific response to concerns regarding shareholder transparency, the limited public information about the bank’s executives, or the possibility of political influence and lobbying in the licensing process—questions that were directly raised.
The Bank of Albania emphasizes that JET Bank has only received preliminary approval and is not yet operational. Within 12 months, the bank must deposit a minimum capital of at least 1 billion lek, meet all technical, regulatory, and internal governance requirements, and only then will the Supervisory Council decide on the final license.
However, the question remains unanswered as to whether there will be separate periodic public reports on the performance and compliance of JET Bank, as well as why, in this case, public information about shareholders and executives is more limited than usual.
Thus, while the Bank of Albania confirms the official line regarding regulatory security and the strategic importance of the first fully digital bank, some of the concerns raised—especially those related to ownership transparency, the concrete source of capital, and equal treatment with other applicants—remain without direct answers, leaving room for ongoing public debate about this new project in Albania’s banking market.