Octavian Armasu: The implementation of the European directive PSD II will provide the National Bank with the opportunity to develop new payment instruments and attract investment in the fintech sector.
The President of the National Bank stated this at the opening of the DTFINCON-22 conference, which takes place on May 19-20 in Chisinau. The event, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova (AmCham Moldova), brings together representatives of government agencies, businesses and experts to discuss digital transformation, the introduction of fintech technologies, as well as challenges in this area, including those related to the war in Ukraine. The President of the National Bank spoke about the priorities of the NBM related to finding solutions to overcome economic difficulties that occur at the global level and in the region, as well as plans for development in the field of digitalization. Armasu noted that banking regulators always have a more conservative approach to introducing innovations, as they must balance between the need to innovate and maintain the stability of the financial system. He also noted that the Moldovan banking sector is somewhat behind in terms of retechnologicalization, including due to banking fraud: they had to eliminate its consequences instead of concentrating their efforts on development. Nevertheless, the National Bank has identified a number of priorities in this area. In particular, according to Armasu, the National Bank is implementing the European Directive PSD II. “It is designed to regulate payment services and payment service providers and provides many opportunities, including the introduction of open-banking, which, in essence, abolishes the monopoly of the bank that owns the accounts. It is an open system, but requires a very high level of security. We also create and strengthen the IT infrastructure. Now we are at the stage of implementing the instant payment project, which will allow using new payment instruments and attracting investments in the fintech industry,” Armasu said, at the same time urging investors to pay attention to this sector. It is also important, according to Armasu, to prepare society for new financial technologies, noting in this context that the NBM is the national coordinator of the financial literacy project in Moldova.// 19.05.2022- InfoMarket.
