BORICA and OpenWay Recognized for Bulgaria's Euro Payment Transition
BORICA AD and OpenWay have won the PAY360 Awards for Best Partnership Initiative. The award acknowledges their joint work in modernizing Bulgaria's payment infrastructure and its successful transition to the euro.
London – BORICA AD and OpenWay have received the Best Partnership Initiative award at the PAY360 Awards 2026. The recognition celebrates their collaboration in transforming Bulgaria's payment infrastructure and facilitating the country's successful transition to the euro.
The initiative involved over 35 banks, payment service providers, fintech companies, government institutions, and technology partners. BORICA and OpenWay worked together to overhaul card payment processing, ensuring the continuity of critical national infrastructure while maintaining daily card transactions and ATM services from the moment the euro was adopted.
This collaboration, which began in 2018, focused on modernizing Bulgaria's card processing systems. BORICA contributed its expertise in domestic payment services and ecosystem coordination, while OpenWay provided its Way4 software platform for digital payments and its technological know-how.
The program's success was demonstrated during Bulgaria's euro adoption on January 1, 2026. Just 20 seconds after midnight, the first euro withdrawal from an ATM was completed. Within the first 48 hours, over 930,000 card and ATM transactions, valued at approximately 42 million euros, were processed without any unexpected service disruptions.