Skopje, 20 October 2021 

From the communication through the Innovation Gateway of the National Bank, we perceive that fintech companies are interested in developing and offering new services in the payment area. They can facilitate the management of the companies' funds, that are kept on payment accounts with several payment services providers, through monitoring in real time for the balance and the executed transactions. For this purpose, it will be necessary to implement the concept of the so-called “open banking”, which implies establishing standards for open and safe communication. The National Bank is working on the preparation of an appropriate bylaw which will prescribe the standards for open and safe communication, harmonized with the standards applied in the European Union.

This was emphasized by the Vice Governor of the National Bank, Emilija Nacevska, at the panel discussion "Long-term opportunities: Economic and legal aspects of the regulations for the investors in the Republic of North Macedonia", at the virtual national event within the World Business Angel Investors Week, which took place yesterday, organized by the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Macedonia and the World Business Angels Investment Forum.

Nacevska, among other things, referred to the benefits of the efforts of fintech companies, by offering innovative solutions for digitalization of payment services to enable facilitation of payments and transfer of funds.

- By using innovative solutions of fintech companies, in the future, the citizens will be able to initiate payments more easily from their payment accounts they hold in banks or other payment services providers, as well as to obtain clear and useful collective and analytical information about their consumer behavior in terms of the payments made in a certain time period through their payment accounts with different payment services providers, said the Vice Governor Nacevska.

She also referred to the undertaken activities for increasing the transparency and the fees that the citizens pay for the performed payment services.

- In the past period, we conducted a survey of banks on the frequency of use of payment services and the amount of fees. On the basis of the results of the survey, efforts are made to select the most frequently used services for which we will provide standardized terms and definitions. Then, payment services providers will have to use these terms and definitions in their service fees. Also, the providers will submit data to the National Bank on the amount of fees for the most representative services, which the National Bank will regularly publish on its website in order for consumers to have fast and easily available information on the payment service fees, said the Vice Governor.

The results of the research of the National Bank, which was also presented by Nacevska, confirm that fintech can provide greater opportunities and better services for consumers and small businesses and can contribute to the harmonization of the financial system with the best international practices.

In her speech, the Vice Governor reminded that the National Bank, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, is working on a new regulatory framework in the payment area with expert support from the European Union. The new regulatory framework will contribute to faster development of the fintech sector in the country.

The President of the Industrial Chamber of Macedonia, Trajan Angelovski and the Director  of the Fund for Innovations and Technology Development,  Kosta Petrov also participated in the panel discussion “Long-term opportunities: Economic and legal aspects of the regulations for the investors in the Republic of North Macedonia”.