Skopje, 29 January 2026    

In cooperation with the Economic Chamber of the Republic of North Macedonia, the National Bank organizes a workshop for the business community. The objective was to familiarize companies with the new conditions and the manner of making cross-border euro payments, as well as with the specific benefits of the country’s membership in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). This is the first workshop of this kind intended for the business community, which was attended by more than 60 companies, mainly from the export-import sector. For them, SEPA is of particular importance, as a large part of foreign trade and financial transactions are carried out with SEPA countries.

The workshop is part of the National Bank activities to clarify the possibilities for the companies and to better enjoy the benefits after domestic banks join SEPA. In addition to the presentation of the practical aspects of the payments through SEPA, the event also included direct discussion with companies, exchange of experiences and the challenges that they face with when using these services, were identified.

During the discussion, it was emphasized that SEPA enables faster, cheaper and more transparent euro payments, with predictable costs and simplified procedures. Namely, with the payments through SEPA, the companies have on average eight times lower fees for the outflow payments, and three times lower fees for the inflows in the amount of Euro 20,000 compared to SWIFT/correspondent transfers. This brings savings of hundreds to thousands of euros annually for the companies that regularly trade with companies from the forty SEPA countries, which in turn helps to better manage liquidity and increases the competitiveness of Macedonian companies on international markets.

The National Bank will remain committed to maximum use of the benefits of the SEPA membership by the business community. The National Bank will continue to start such initiatives, in close cooperation with economic chambers, banks and companies, in order to deepen the integration of the domestic economy into the European payment area.