Skopje, 29 July 2021
The National Bank Survey presented at an e-event: Nearly 90% of the respondents support fintech development, further steps are being taken
The National Bank is a leader in the Western Balkans region in supporting fintech development. North Macedonia is the only country in the region whose central bank has mapped the fintech ecosystem. Other countries in the region are in the initial stage - trainings and workshops, amending and drafting fintech regulations. North Macedonia is the only country in which the central bank has already initiated the preparation of a concrete national strategy to support the fintech sector.
These are some of the findings presented at the virtual event along with the results National Bank survey and feasibility study for fintech development funded by European Fund for Southeast Europe - EFSE. The event was attended by the Governor, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska and part of the National Bank team, representatives of EFSE, the external collaborator who prepared the feasibility study and some of the Survey respondents. Representatives of banks, companies offering financial services, alternative financing companies, incubators, accelerators and small business supporting partners, regulators, state institutions and ministries participated in the Survey.
Fintech sector can bring numerous benefits to the economy, said nearly 90% of 220 respondents
The survey shows that traditional financial institutions such as banks and other financial non-banking institutions, are already taking digital transformation initiatives. Just over half (58%) of the traditional financial institutions that participated in the Survey stated that they were already developing fintech products or services. The situation is similar with the alternative financing companies that participated in the Survey, where 52% of them responded that they had already introduced fintech solutions.
Majority of respondents from the group of regulators or a solid 76% believes that the current regulation should be adapted to the new innovative companies and 71% of the respondents from the group of incubators, accelerators and potential investors believe that the state should encourage investment in potential fintech companies.
In her address, the National Bank Governor pointed out that innovative solutions in finance could bring enormous benefits for citizens and companies, the financial system and the overall economy. By enabling new players and business models to enter the market, fintech has potential to increase competition, reduce inefficiencies and transform financial services.
“In the period ahead, we will focus our energy on activities related to governance arrangements and coordination issues with all stakeholders in the ecosystem. We also plan to devote special attention to developing effective consumer protection regulation in the area of financial services. Setting criteria for licensing process for newcomers is another activity that is on our agenda. Furthermore, we would also explore the feasibility of creating a regulatory sandbox, to enable firms to experiment with new technologies in a safe space. This regulatory tool has considerable potential to foster financial inclusion and can signal Fintech industry participants that the regulator is open to innovation. All these issues will be part of the first National Fintech Strategy, as one of our strategic goals in the period ahead”, said Governor Angelovska Bezhoska.
EFSE Fund, with its substantial development record in North Macedonia of providing EUR 110 million development finance loans and 36 realized technical assistance projects since inception emphasized that fintech development in our country requires creating demand by raising awareness of fintech, supporting innovations, entrepreneurs and innovators, coordinating joint efforts and removing development obstacles through regulatory facilitations. The Fund has actively partnered with the National Bank on development of the fintech agenda in the country since the introductory fintech workshop organized for the senior staff of the National Bank in May 2018, continuing with the workshop for all other financial regulators in 2019 and the detailed fintech ecosystem research and mapping exercise in 2020.
The work of the Innovation Hub, a fintech working group within the National Bank that established the so-called Innovation Gateway, a National Bank platform for communication with the innovative business community (fintech sector) and other relevant institutions, was also presented at the event. Until now, most of the requests for advice/consultation, received through the Innovation Gateway came from domestic companies that had presented specific business models, i.e. business ideas as well as requests from individuals. Over 30% of the entities that have contacted the National Bank through the Innovation Gateway are from abroad, which indicates the interest of the international fintech sector for potential foreign investments in our economy. According to the activities, more than a third of the questions and suggestions to the Innovation Gateway refer to innovative, i.e. alternative payments, followed by questions related to the cryptocurrency, as well as regulation, e-commerce, digital central bank currencies, etc.
As pointed out at the e-event, a few experts from the National Bank's fintech working group have recently been involved in the working groups for financial innovations established by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which helps our central bank to monitor and participate in creating the latest international findings and fintech regulations.