Five Banks existed at the moment of monetary independence. In order to increase competitiveness among banks, Central Bank set capital requirement, which was very easy to met. That resulted in mushrooming of 14 new private banks. At the end of 1993, the banking system consisted of 19 commercial banks, of universal type.
All banks are private.
Both NBRM and the government are very open for the possibility of foreign banks establishing branches in Macedonia, and nothing but standard prudential requirements are in place. The banking regulation allows them, and makes them subject to the same rules like the domestic banks. The only exception is that there is an attitude that foreign bank subsidiaries and branches should start to work primarily with corporate clients, and that household deposit collection should be postponed until the bank or the branch has already shown good track record. Skopje Vancho Mihajlovski Jurij Gagarin, br. FULM shtedilnica - Skopje Eleonora Zgonjanin Zeleznichka, br.