National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska and the President of the Macedonian Banking Association (MBA), Maja Stevkova Sterieva adopted guidelines on greater transparency and standardization in publishing data on deposits and loans to households.
The guidelines that were adopted on Thursday, will be implemented by banks and savings houses from the beginning of August, the National Bank said in a press release on Friday.
The signing of this document as regards the banking sector is the first and important step in the implementation of the first national Strategy for Financial Education and Financial Inclusion 2021-2025 which was recently adopted by the financial regulators.
Under the strategy, the section on financial inclusion envisages increasing the transparency in the operation and issuing data on financial services by the private financial sector, including standardization of published data for the same type of service.
“Through the implementation of the guidelines, which we signed with the MBA, banks and savings houses will start publishing data on personal banking products in a standardized form, which will provide greater visibility, product comparability and enabling citizens to be more informed. In this manner, we act towards greater protection of consumers, as well as their education for certain types of credit and deposit products, which will contribute to sound decisions for selection of products that best suit the needs of individuals,” Governor Angelovska Bezhoska said.
MBA President Stevkova Sterieva underlined that the banks and savings houses that are members of the Macedonian Banking Association are financial institutions that transparently and regularly publish data on their operations. “The establishment of a standardized approach in publishing data on deposit and credit products to households will contribute to even greater transparency and easier comparability of banking products,” Stevkova Sterieva noted.
According to the press release of the National Bank, the guidelines define the form, manner and data that are published for banking products for the population, individually, by each bank and savings house for their products. The conditions are envisaged to be displayed on the websites of banks and savings houses, as well as on the website of the National Bank and to be updated regularly by banks and savings houses, at least once every three months.
