The MPs gave a second reading to a bill to strengthen the integrity and finality of the monetary policy, bank regulation and surveillance decisions of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM). The main provisions of the law envision criminal liability for damage caused by illegal administrative acts of the BNM and stipulate the mechanism for determining the extent of the caused damage, the method of holding the members of the Bank’s administration bodies accountable, IPN reports.

The bill provides for the amendment of a number of legislative acts, namely the Law on the National Bank of Moldova, the Penal Code, the Penal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Law on Bank Recovery and Resolution and the Law on Bank Activity.

The bill was drafted by the BNM. According to the authors, this is designed to improve the regulations related to the framework for removing noncompliant shareholders from the banking system, the regime of compensations for damage caused by documents issued by the NBM and to the autonomy and accountability of the banking regulator.

The adoption of the bill forms part of the program between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the International Monetary Fund.