The Governor Angelovska Bezhoska meets Berrigan and Andreoli The assessment process of the country’s SEPA accession moves forward

Skopje, 1 November 2024

The assessment of the country's accession to the Single European Payment Association (SEPA) moves forward. For this purpose, in Brussels, the Governor of the National Bank Anita Angelovska Bezhoska had meetings with the Director General of the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union of the European Commission, John Berrigan, and Giorgio Andreoli, Director General of the European Payment Council, the institution that makes the final decision on the country's SEPA membership.

Subject matter of the meetings was the country's membership application to SEPA, which was officially submitted in July this year, following the extensive amendments to the laws and bylaws of payment services, the banking system and anti-money laundering, for the purpose of harmonization with the EU legislation. In the beginning of October, the official application was supplemented with the latest amendments to the Law on Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism, thus all the necessary amendments to the law and bylaw legislation have been completed. Our application is currently being assessed. Given the high level of compliance with the legislation, we are expecting a positive assessment that will enable our country to become a SEPA member in the near future. After receiving the positive assessment, commercial banks will need to join the European Payment System, which requires previous preparing.

SEPA membership is one of the priorities backed by the Growth Plan of the European Commission from 2023, which aims at rapid economic integration of the region in the Single EU market. SEPA will bring numerous benefits for the citizens, companies and overall economy, by enabling faster, more efficient and cheaper euro payments to and from SEPA member countries, simplified procedures, greater transparency and enhanced consumer protection. The citizens will be able to make transfer of funds in euros to SEPA member countries in a cheaper, faster and simpler manner. The companies will be able to more easily engage in cross-border trade with goods and services in the SEPA countries, to expand their business and increase competitiveness. For them, the accession means lower fees, as well as improved cash flow management, given that SEPA transfers are carried out within one working day, while with instant payments, the transfer will be carried out in maximum 10 seconds, at any time of the day.