The European Union will continue to offer assistance to the National Bank of Moldova in doing reforms in the banking sector, including with a new Twinning project that is to be launched soon to strengthen the supervision of the financial sector, corporate governance and risk management, EU Ambassador in Chisinau Peter Michalko stated in a seminar entitled “Banking sector reforms. Transition from Basel I to Basel III”, which was organized by the EU High Level Advisers’ Mission in cooperation with the National Bank of Moldova, IPN reports.
Peter Michalko underlined the importance of reforms in the banking sector for ensuring financial stability and public confidence after the banking crisis. He approved of the progress made by the National Bank of Moldova in establishing a modern regulatory and supervision framework, in accordance with the EU standards (Basel III), in solving banking sector problems related to shareholder transparency and exposure to the affiliated parties. The European diplomat encouraged to continue the efforts so as to fulfill all the commitments assumed before the IMF and the EU, underlining the key role of the banks as a catalyst for the country’s economic activity.
National Bank governor Sergiu Cioclea welcomed the assistance provided by the EU in implementing the normative framework related to Basel III, saying huge work was done to “clean up” the banking sector and to attract reliable investors. Almost half of the assets of the banking sector are now owned by branches of famous European banking groups. “The banking sector is going through the most profound reforms so far as we want to have safe, resistant and profit generating banks in Moldova,” he stated. The governor noted that Basel III creates many new requirements for banks and bank supervision and the efforts and investments of banks in implementing the new normative framework are thus vital.
EU High Level Adviser on Banking Sector Aldona Jociene noted that Basel III encourages an efficient dialogue between supervisors, banks and foreign auditors, the cooperation with foreign supervision authorities being of crucial importance.
The new law on banking activity took effect on January 1 this year and will be implemented gradually until 2020. The participants in the seminar could learn from European regulators, supervisors and banks about their experiences and lessons learned while implementing these standards in the EU member states and discussed the opportunities and the challenges faced by the banks in Moldova.
