The European Union has launched a major twinning project to strengthen surveillance, corporate governance and risk management in the financial sector of the Republic of Moldova. Within this project, during two years the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) and the National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM) will benefit from the assistance of EU partner institutions that formed a consortium. The project will help the two institutions to further develop their capacities, following the best EU practices to ensure a high level of stability in the financial sector for the benefit of the citizens and enterprises, IPN reports.
In the launch, NBM governor Octavian Armașu said the partner institutions from the EU that created a consortium are the National Bank of Romania (project leader), the Central Bank of the Netherlands and the Central Bank of Lithuania, in cooperation with the Financial Surveillance Authority of Romania and the National Authority for Consumer Protection of Romania.
“The current twinning project is the expression of the strong commitment of the NBM and NCFM to continue to develop the financial sector of Moldova, in accordance with the international and the European Union’s standards and to continue to effectively implement the Association Agreement. This time, the twinning assistance will include not only the banking sector, but also such key areas as financial stability, macroprudential policies, payment services and financial market infrastructure. At the same time, a part of the project’s assistance will be offered for strengthening the capacities in the insurance sector and of nonbank lending organizations by aligning the national normative framework to the one applied in the EU,” said Octavian Armașu.
Attending the event, Speaker Igor Grosu said this project is extremely important as the NBM and NCFM benefit from expertise and the support of three central banks of the EU. This way, the expertise of Lithuania, the Netherlands and Romania will be brought together to help the Republic of Moldova advance in the financial sector. This sector the past decade experienced cataclysms that affected not only the system, but also the business community, the citizens and the credibility of the country. This was possible due to the fragility of the institutions that were to manage the situation in the financial system. For these reasons, this project, alongside other projects, is of major importance.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova Janis Mazeiks said the EU has always been a promoter of reforms and supports the businesses and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova through different projects. The financial sector and the economy have been seriously affected by the 2014 fraud caused by the inefficient legal framework and obscure interests. “The Republic of Moldova reformed its banking sector, improved its stability and transparency. This means more investments in the banking sector. The EU assisted the National Bank of Moldova in creating a banking system adjusted to the Basel III standards and in strengthening its independence. This twinning project is one more example of support for the financial sector for this to offer benefits to all the citizens of this country,” stated the official.
Mugur Isărescu, the governor of the National Bank of Romania, said the twinning project launched today covers not only the banking sector, but the whole financial market and provides benefits to the NBM and NCFM by strengthening the institutional capacities and governance and by developing the regulatory, surveillance framework and the operational framework for positive functioning. The National Bank of Romania after 1990 accumulated solid experience and expertise with the support of its partners from the EU. It is now its duty, as a senior partner, to pass on its experience to the Republic of Moldova.
The project will last for two years. The activities embrace a number of components in financial macro-stability, prudential supervision of the nonbank financial sector, internal surveillance and payments regulation framework and its functioning in accordance with the European standards.
