A paper on cross-border banking in our country and in general in the region of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), whose authors are the Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, the Vice Governor Ana Mitreska and Frosina Celeska and Ljupka Georgievska from the Financial Stability, Banking Regulations and Resolution Department of the National Bank, is issued in the Book published on the occasion of 10th anniversary of the launch of the Vienna Initiative. The Book includes papers written by eminent authors from the European central banking community and from the international financial institutions and organizations.

The dominant presence of foreign banks is the common feature of the banking systems in CESEE, including in our country. Starting from this conclusion, the authors from the National Bank refer to the major benefits of the presence of foreign banks, such as the easier access to financing, the introduction of modern practices in both the banking operations and the corporate governance, as well as the overall risk management.

In their paper, they also refer to the risks from cross-border banking, which became more visible in the region with the onset of the global economic and financial crisis, when there was a certain withdrawal of foreign funding sources in the region. Moreover, they also analyze the experience of our banking system, in which foreign financing is limited, and the banks are involved in traditional banking, which enabled limited negative effects of the financial crisis and moderate impact on the credit cycle. The authors from the National Bank discuss the main challenges for effective cross-border banking, related to the need for a more balanced approach in the financing of the banks and avoiding excessive cross-border exposure and the need for more efficient cross-border cooperation, for the purpose of further more successful coordination among regulators. The ending of the paper analyzes the effects that the post-crisis regulatory changes can have on the banking systems of the CESEE region.

The Book of the Vienna Initiative, in addition to the papers devoted to cross-border banking, also contains papers devoted to the platforms for cooperation in the field of financial stability, the importance of the key features of the financial sector in the region and for its capacity to support innovations and economic growth, as well as papers in general on the experiences of the Vienna Initiative in the past ten years.

The Book is available here. 

The Vienna Initiative is a platform for the private and public sector, that unites the key international financial institutions, the European Commission and the relevant institutions of the European Union (EU), the global and regional banks present with their subsidiaries in CESEE, as well as the regulatory authorities of several European countries, including the non-EU countries. Through coordinate measures and activities and effective cooperation of these institutions, the aim of the Vienna Initiative is to maintain and strengthen financial stability and to provide protection against systemic banking crises in this part of Europe.

This year, the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska was elected member of the Vienna Initiative Supervisory Board, as a representative of the six countries of the Southeast Europe region that are still not members of the European Union.