Angelovska Bezhoska: A Draft-Law on Financial Ombudsman to settle complaints of the citizens and protect their rights

Skopje, 3th of January 2022

The protection of the financial services users is high in the priorities of the National Bank. By improving the regulations, the new Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems, as well as the Law on Financial Ombudsman, which would establish a special institution that will act on citizens' complaints, will build a framework for stronger protection of consumer rights. This was stated in an interview of the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska.with the national service MTV.

Angelovska Bezhoska emphasized that although the National Bank does not have an explicit legal mandate for consumer protection, still as a socially responsible institution it undertakes several measures in this segment. An example of this is the Strategy for Financial Education and Financial Inclusion, a joint document prepared and adopted in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Agency for Supervision of Fully Funded Pension Insurance and the Insurance Supervision Agency, which envisages several activities in order to increase the protection of financial services users.

"Those activities focus on two segments. One segment is financial education, aimed at increasing the information of the financial services users about their rights, but also obligations, as well as getting acquainted with different financial products for better information and making the right decisions. The second segment is to improve and bolster the regulatory framework for consumer protection. "The first visible step in this direction is the Law on Payment Systems, which will provide a significant qualitative leap in the consumer rights protection in the use of payment services," said the Governor.

Angelovska Bezhoska said that the new activity, which has recently started within the central bank, and on which the bank will work together with other financial regulators, is the preparation of a Law on Financial Ombudsman. The idea of ​​this law is to establish a special institution to settke complaints of the citizens, with an explicit mandate to protect their interests.