7th October 2025, Skopje - Ministry of Finance and the management officials of the Group of Non-Bank Financial Institutions within the Chamber of Commerce held a working meeting, chaired by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Andriana Matlioska. Focus of the meeting was the current trends on the financial market, particularly as regards non-bank financial institutions.
Based on the analyses made, slowdown in credit activity of financial institutions was observed following the adoption of the latest amendments to the Law on Financial Institutions (July 2023) and the Rulebook on Credit Risk (April 2024). Data show that financial institutions accounted for 2.3% of the total crediting in the country in the first half of 2025. Ministry’s ongoing activities and the strengthened supervision over their operations resulted in consolidation of the respective sector and reduction in their number, dropping from 35 to 26 financial institutions.
At the meeting, the participants welcomed the establishment of the Unit for Monitoring and Supervision of Non-Bank Institutions within the Financial System Department of the Ministry of Finance. The new Unit strengthens both the off-site and the on-site supervision of financial institutions and enhances the implementation of the legal framework and the bylaws adopted by the Ministry in its capacity as a regulator.
As underlined, the key priority of both the Ministry of Finance and the Group of Non-Bank Financial Institutions is the consumer protection.
To that end, State Secretary Matlioska emphasized that the Ministry of Finance, as the competent regulatory authority, continuously works on strengthening the regulations, all to the end of ensuring high level of protection of the consumers using the financial services rendered by the financial institutions. Thereby, as she added, by improving the regulations, the financial institutions are required to establish a credit risk management system, which obliges them to carefully assess the client’s creditworthiness prior to approving the credit.
In this context, the Group’s management officials provided an update on the implementation of the Code of Ethics, adopted in June 2025, aimed at enhancing the operations of the financial institutions and improving the consumer experience, also promoting greater social responsibility of the financial institutions and strengthening their relationship with the consumers, i.e. users of their services.
Commitment to greater transparency as regards data and information on the operations of the financial institutions was also highlighted during the meeting. Under the latest amendments, financial institutions are now required, in addition to the regular reporting obligations, to transparently and publicly disclose their tariff books on their websites and display them clearly in their premises. This enables the consumers to have a clear insight into all costs before entering into any agreement.
As all parties agreed, the measures implemented to date reflect the commitment to financial stability of the market and consumer protection.
