The Best Partnership Initiative award recognizes BORICA and OpenWay for their contribution to Bulgaria's payments transformation and successful euro transition.

LONDON, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- BORICA AD and OpenWay have won the Best Partnership Initiative Award at the PAY360 Awards 2026 for their work together on Bulgaria's payment infrastructure and the country's successful transition to the euro.

The award recognizes the impact of a long-term partnership focused on a challenge where there was no room for disruption: transforming critical national payment infrastructure while ensuring that everyday card payments and ATM services continued from the first minute of euro adoption.

Since 2018, BORICA and OpenWay have worked together to modernize Bulgaria's card processing infrastructure, combining BORICA's expertise in national payment services and ecosystem coordination with OpenWay's Way4 real-time digital payment software platform and payment technology expertise.

What set the initiative apart was its scale, continuity and practical impact. The partnership was developed over years of modernization and then tested under exceptional live conditions when Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026.

The euro programme brought together more than 35 banks, payment service providers, fintechs, government institutions and technology partners. BORICA and OpenWay worked closely to prepare and execute the card processing transformation, with extensive testing, rehearsals and operational coordination before the cutover.

The results came almost immediately after midnight. The first successful euro ATM withdrawal was completed just 20 seconds into the new currency environment. Within the first 48 hours, more than 930,000 card and ATM transactions worth nearly €42 million were processed with zero unplanned downtime.

Miroslav Vichev, CEO of BORICA AD, said:
"Our shared objective went beyond a successful technology transition. We wanted to ensure that a transformation of this scale could happen without disrupting the everyday payment experience. That required years of preparation, disciplined execution and trust between our teams and across the wider ecosystem."

Pavel Gubin, CEO of OpenWay Group, said:
"What makes this achievement distinctive is not technology or scale alone, but what BORICA and OpenWay were able to accomplish together. We have spent years building a payment environment designed to evolve without compromising continuity. Euro adoption put that approach to the ultimate real world test, and the results speak for themselves."

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