Moldova (bbabo.net), - The European Union is launching a major twinning project to strengthen supervision, corporate governance and risk management in the financial sector of the Republic of Moldova. Under this two-year project, the National Bank of Moldova and the National Financial Market Commission will receive assistance from a number of partner institutions from the EU, united in a consortium, reports ipn.md

This project will help the NBM and the NCFM develop their capacities following EU best practices to ensure a high level of financial sector stability for the benefit of citizens and businesses

NBM President Octavian Armasu stated at the launch event that the EU partner institutions united in 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 Romanian Financial Supervision Authority and the Romanian National Consumer Protection Authority .

“The twinning project is an expression of the strong desire of the NBM and the NCFM to continue the development of the financial sector of Moldova in accordance with international and European Union standards. And also to continue the effective implementation of the Association Agreement.

This time around, twinning support will not be limited to the banking sector, but will also include other key areas such as financial stability, macroprudential policy, payment services, and financial market infrastructure.

At the same time, part of the project's assistance will be provided to strengthen the capacity in the field of insurance and non-bank lending institutions by bringing the national regulatory framework in line with that applicable in the EU,” said Octavian Armasu.

Speaker of the Parliament Igor Grosu, who was present at the event, noted that this project is extremely important, since the NBM and the NCFM will receive the expertise and support of the three central banks of the EU.

The expertise of Lithuania, the Netherlands and Romania will be combined to help the Republic of Moldova advance in the financial sector. Indeed, over the past decade, the sector has gone through cataclysms that have affected not only the system itself, but also the business environment, citizens, and trust in the country.

In his opinion, this was due to the fragility of the institutions that had to manage the situation in the financial system. For these reasons, this project, along with others, is of great importance.

The Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, Janis Mazeiks, said that the EU has always been a supporter of reforms and supports businesses and citizens of the Republic of Moldova through various projects. As for the financial sector and the economy, they were hit hard by the bank fraud of 2014, caused by inefficient legal frameworks, hidden interests.

“The Republic of Moldova has reformed its banking sector, improving its stability and transparency. This means more investment in the banking sector. The EU supported the National Bank of Moldova to create a banking system that complies with Basel III standards and strengthen its independence. This twinning project is another example of supporting the financial sector so that it benefits all citizens of this country,” the ambassador said.

President of the National Bank of Romania Mugur Isarescu said that the twinning project, launched today, has a wide scope - not only the banking sector, but the entire financial market. Thus, we are talking about benefits, both for the NBM and for the NCFM, by strengthening the institutional capacity and management, as well as by developing the legal framework, supervision and operational framework for positive functioning.

According to him, after 1990, the NDB has accumulated solid experience with the support of its partners from the EU. And now it is the turn and obligation of the NDB as a senior partner to transfer experience to the Republic of Moldova.

The duration of the project is two years. The activity includes a number of components in the field of macro-financial stability, prudential supervision of the non-banking financial sector, the internal regulatory framework for supervision and the regulatory framework for the payment infrastructure and its functionality according to European standards.

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