The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia informs the public that in cooperation with the central banks of the Netherlands and Portugal, it organizes the Eighth Conference on Payment and Securities Settlement Systems, which will be held in Ohrid, from 10 to 13 May 2015.
The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia informs the public that in cooperation with the central banks of the Netherlands and Portugal, it organizes the Eighth Conference on Payment and Securities Settlement Systems, which will be held in Ohrid, from 10 to 13 May 2015.
The opening remarks at the Conference will be given by Ms. Maja Kadievska-Vojnovic, Vice-Governor of the National Bank in charge of the Sector of Financial Market Operations and Payment Systems.
The Conference has an international character and it will be attended by representatives from the central banks of Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Kosovo, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) based in Switzerland, the financial institutions Commerzbank from Germany and Accuity from Great Britain, as well as representatives of commercial banks, regulators of financial markets infrastructure and other financial and non-financial institutions in the Republic of Macedonia.
The continuous development of technology has an effect on the banking industry in terms of the ways of providing payment services. The new digital era encourages banks to shift from universal to specialist model of providing payment services i.e. to create more specific payment services different from those of their competitors from the non-banking sector or to enter into partnerships with innovative providers of payment services from the non-banking industry. This change should be transmitted also to their customers, especially natural persons and small and medium-sized enterprises, which are no longer passive users of payment services, but the technological development allows their direct interaction with banks and comparison of their offers, as well as active use of the opportunities offered by the e-commerce. All these challenges and opportunities resulting from the digitalization of payment trends and innovations will be discussed during the Conference. Additionally, the Conference will cover topics through which the lecturers will address the integration processes in the field of payments in the European Union and the ongoing development of the project on the Single European Payment Area (SEPA), the trends in securities settlement systems, in particular the project "TARGET2 Securities" as well as financial inclusion and accessibility of payment services for natural persons and legal entities.
Taking into account the topics that will be discussed and elaborated at the Conference, their importance given the rapid development of technology and its innovative effect on the ways of making payments that reflect quickly on the trends of development of the payment infrastructure in the Republic of Macedonia, we expect that it will contribute to increasing the capacities in the field of payment systems and services aimed at future integration of the Republic of Macedonia in the European Union.