As from July 1, 2023, the National Bank of Moldova has had much broader duties. The institution now supervises also the insurance and nonbank lending sectors of which the National Commission for Financial Markets was earlier responsible. In the podcast “Given sense to money”, NBM vice governor Constantin Shchendra said the transfer of duties should not cause inconveniences to citizens and should facilitate their access to high-quality services, IPN reports.
“In the medium and long terms, we surely want the citizen to benefit from services of a higher quality, to ensure the system is resilient and solid so that the citizens have confidence in insurance companies first of all and that the damages in case of an accident are paid fully and as swiftly as possible. But we also want the insurance products to be diversified, the companies to become stronger and offer more products to our citizens,” stated the vice governor.
He explained that supervision is important as it ensures a resilient and powerful system and this is significant for the citizens who benefit from insurance policies for them to be sure that they will get money or insurance for damage caused to them. As to insurance in general, Constantin Shchendra said that important players from the EU should operate on the Moldovan market as this will contribute to competition on the market. To attract these shareholders, the national legislation should be harmonized with the EU’s legislation. They must be sure that the surveyors and the environment in general, as regards justice, the economic sector, is appropriate and they will enjoy particular protection in their work.
The vice governor said that an important stage in the digitization of processes, in the interaction of the central bank with insurance companies will follow, similar to the institution’s interaction with banks. The NBM aims to eliminate several taxes that the citizens pay now, such as the tax paid to obtain information about the insurance history, so that these services are absolutely free.
“Digitalization is an area on which we will focus, but we also want the insurance companies to invest more time and resources in digitizing their interaction with clients,” stated Constantin Shchendra, noting that the final objective is to ensure the insurance policies are fully issued in a digital format and the insurance distribution channels are digitized so that there is a financial effect and also greater efficiency.
