Page 1 - DANIELA_01noemvri2025_ENG

BANKING

HOW HAVE INTERNA-

TIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

STRENGTHENED

THE NATIONAL BANK?

ost people rarely think Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria,
about the work of a cen- Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia
tral bank, yet its role and Slovakia) and all that with the
quietly shapes our daily active support of the European Cen-
Mlives. From ensuring our tral Bank. This Regional Programme
money keeps its value, to maintaining aimed to strengthen institutional ca-
the stability of the banking system, pacity by transferring international
Daniela Parat to keeping payment systems running and European standards into the na-
Jovanovska smoothly, central banks safeguard the tional practices of the beneficiary cen-

The author is Аdvisor in stability of citizens’ economic lives. tral banks from the Western Balkans.
the Governor’s Office But just like any other institution, The Programme provided a series of
central banks must constantly adapt, bilateral measures tailored to the spe-
modernize, and learn from each other cific institutional needs of each of the
in order to remain effective in the ev- beneficiary central banks. Each meas-
er-changing world of finance. ure addressed a specific priority area,
The National Bank of the Republic building on the initial state of play and
of North Macedonia (NBRNM) has re- resulting in tangible institutional im-
cently taken major steps to strength- provements.
en its operations across several areas Through cooperation with six
by participating in the second phase of leading European central banks, the
the Regional Programme supporting NBRNM introduced new practices, im-
central banks and supervisory agen- proved its internal capacities and laid
cies in EU candidate and potential the foundations for future alignment
candidate countries from the West- with European standards. Here are
ern Balkans on their road to the EU. the areas of bilateral cooperation.
The Programme began in 2019, and
its second phase ran from September Better standards for development
2022 to September 2025. The €3 mil- of IT applications − for a more effi-
lion Programme was financed by the cient central bank (in cooperation
EU and implemented by the Deutsche with Banca d’Italia)
Bundesbank in cooperation with 19 Initial state of play: The National
national central banks across the EU Bank traditionally develops the ma-
(Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, jority of its application software inter-
Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Ire- nally. This approach provides a high
land, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, level of institutional independence,

484 15 октомври 2025