On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of one of the most successful reforms in the Republic of Macedonia, the payment systems reform, on June 21, 2011, a round table was held,  in hotel "Granite", Ohrid.

Skopje, 22 June 2011

Press release of the NBRM

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of one of the most successful reforms in the Republic of Macedonia, the payment systems reform, on June 21, 2011, a round table was held,  in hotel "Granite", Ohrid.

At the round table, the Governor of the NBRM and experts in this field, including the experts who were directly involved in reforming the payment system, summed up the benefits of the Macedonian economy throughout the past decade of functioning of the payment system of the Republic of Macedonia. With the reform the corporate accounts and execution of financial transactions were transferred from the Bureau for Payment Operations to the banks and their settlement is organized in a reliable and efficient manner. Thus, Macedonia gained a modern and efficient payment system and a new payment infrastructure that is compatible with the payment systems of developed countries.

MIPS (MIPS - Macedonian Interbank Payment System) constitutes the core of the payment system. MIPS is a system for gross settlement of large value payments (over one million Denars) in real time and for urgent interbank payments, which is owned and managed by the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia. Also, government payments are executed through this system. MIPS is used also for settlement of the cash component of the transactions in securities concluded on the Macedonian Stock Exchange, previously processed in the Central Depository of Securities, as well as for final settlement of payment card transactions processed through "Casys", which is certified by " Master Card "and" Visa ".

Another important component of the payment system in the republic of Macedonia is the Clearing Interbank System (KIBS), which is a system for multilateral, deferred net settlement of small value payments (less than one million Denars), owned by private commercial banks. Most payments are made for the account of clients of banks, so that after the clearing balances are settled in MIPS, thus making the payments become final and irrevocable.

With payment systems and settlement of securities established in such a manner, Macedonia gained a payment infrastructure common for a modern market economy, which is a good basis for developing financial infrastructure and increasing the level of financial intermediation. Payment systems and securities settlement systems are functionally related and all their activities take place at pre-defined modes of operation and strictly defined term plan.

It should be noted that the reliability and efficiency of payment systems and their development are not static categories once achieved, but they are rather an ongoing process that should follow the development of the economy and the needs of the financial transactions. In addition, at the roundtable, the experts, besides summarizing the results, also identified the areas for further development of payment and settlement systems of the Republic of Macedonia and the guidelines for their integration in the European payment infrastructure.

Governor's Office