The banking crisis that affected the Moldovan economy in 2015 can be relieved by a strengthening plan that includes seven immediate measures. The solutions must be implemented during the next two years, both at the National Bank of Moldova and at commercial banks, experts of the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, said in a news conference at IPN. According to them, this plan will help alleviate the consequences of the crisis and prevent similar crises in the future.
The experts noted that the plan for strengthening the banking sector is based on two fundamental principles: an independent central bank outfitted with modern monitoring instruments and commercial banks managed and owned by upright professionals. “Expert-Grup” executive director Adrian Lupusor said that this plan of action must be implemented during two years. “Both society and the development partners need urgent measures with rapid results that will increase confidence in the state institutions and banks, which is now at a rather low level,” he stated.
The plan proposed by “Expert-Grup” envisions the ensuring of the National Bank’s independence by eliminating the levers by which particular political or private interest groups can exert pressure on the central bank. The second point refers to the strengthening of bank monitoring and supervision. In this regard, the human factor should be diminished in the monitoring process by implementing information technology and making the penalties for market abuse and other violations by banks stricter.
Another point of the plan envisions the increasing of bank shareholder transparency. “If the first objective is achieved – to strengthen the independence of the National Bank – this institution’s monitoring instruments should be improved and complemented. In essence, the actions must lead to the diminution of the human factor in the monitoring and regulation process,” said expert Dumitru Pantea.
The experts also said that corporate governance in banks should be improved and the banking sector must be ‘de-offshorized”. The bank managers should be made more responsible by adjusting the national legislation to the European directives. The shareholders should be obliged to cover the losses and any other consequence of the defective management with own resources.
The last point of the plan says the banks’ capacity to absorb losses should be increased. The guarantee fund should be raised from 6,000 lei to 100,000 lei by 2020 so that the people have bigger confidence in banks.
The experts of “Expert-Grup” said they are ready to monitor authorities’ actions aimed at stabilizing the banking sector and at preventing similar crisis in the future.
