The new regulations on which we are working at the moment will stimulate significant improvements in the domestic payment services market. This was emphasized, among other things, today in Ohrid, at the 12th Conference on Payments and Market Infrastructure, organized by the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, in cooperation with the Nederlandsche Bank, and addressed by the Minister of Finance, Dragan Tevdovski and the Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Mancevski.

In his address, the Minister Tevdovski emphasized that the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems, jointly developed by the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank, and which was addressed yesterday at the Conference by the Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, will allow liberalization of the payment services market and entry of non-bank institutions, such as payment institutions and electronic money institutions. "This law will be an important step to the changing payments landscape. The business community, especially the FinTech companies, are those that need to introduce new, innovative payment methods - easily available and with lower costs. The liberalization of the market will also increase competition, which will stimulate banks and other financial institutions to be more active in the application of technological innovations in the financial sector” - Tevdovski said.

In terms of the market infrastructure, in the area of access to capital, the Minister of Finance emphasized that there are conditions for application of crowdfunding in the country, which is crucial for the startup companies.

The Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Mancevski emphasized that the benefits of the innovations in the information technology are necessary for the economic development and that we have to be ready for the challenges that the rapid technological development poses, as well as to accept the changes that occur at global level.

"The process of digital transformation is long and not simple, but in the past years we have made important steps to create preconditions for accelerating this process in our country as well. And not only preconditions of technical character, but also legal bases, especially in the field of financial infrastructure. In order to promote the development of the economy, we are also working on the establishment of a solid digital infrastructure with equal access for public and private institutions, companies and citizens and we are harmonizing our regulations with the regulations of the European Union. We already have a solid framework for an open and safe digital space” - he said, thus indicating that the harmonization of the domestic legislation with the European legislation in this field is the first major step in the process, thereby ensuring the safe execution of digital activities.

Mancevski also referred to the progress achieved with the digital identification in our country and with the security of the digital services of public institutions, as well as with the established platform for a secure exchange of data among public institutions, which is the basis for digitization of the processes in the country.

This year's edition of the Conference on Payments and Market Infrastructure includes participants from fourteen countries. Today, representatives of several central banks from Europe will also express their expert views on the changing payments landscape.

Within the Conference activities, a panel discussion was held where distinguished experts from the banking and financial sector discussed about the world of open banking and about FinTech in the payment innovations. The views expressed will be of use for the further perception of some of the challenges that the central banking community faces with.

The Conference Programme ends tomorrow, when some of the experts from Europe will discuss several key issues on the new trends in the payment area in separate working groups.