In comparative context with the EU members, we are lagging behind given that 91% of credit transfers were electronically initiated in the old EU members and 86% in the new EU member countries in 2016. Regarding digital channels used for ordering goods and services, internet shoppers in Macedonia increased by 5 p.p. during the last five years and reached 15% of the population that used internet in 2017. This is quite below the 57% of internet shoppers in the EU in 2017, according to the Eurostat. Internet shopping is becoming popular among all age groups, but the young internet users have the highest share of online shoppers among internet users. In addition, the development of FinTech companies is expected in the coming period through further liberalization of payment transactions and the further trend of opening of the information systems of the banks towards this type of companies. 1/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  The absence of liberalization in payments industry can be treated as a factor that in a sense constrained digitalization in Macedonia in the past. This is expected to change with the new Law on payment services and systems which isunder procedure implementing PSD2, PAD, E-money 2, Settlement Finality Directive, IFR provisions and some provisions of Regulation on credit transfers and direct debit. The new law is expected to provide more stimulating environment for financial innovations allowing for new entrants to the market with innovative payments solutions, while establishing standards that will enhance the security and consumer protection.

Thus, banks could have similar benefits by adopting the APIs or the Open Banking concept. The emerging ecosystem of Bank & FinTech partnerships and collaborations i.e. Open Bank has paved the way for the data sharing economy, and a way banks to monetize their digital assets and data. Many open initiatives and government regulations open up access to the customer data banks hold on other businesses. Regulations such as Accessto-Accounts as part of PSD II and Open API (application programming interface) standards are paving the way for an open API ecosystem. Regulators in many other countries are also evaluating feasibility of open APIs with the aim to provide consumers with secure, less expensive, and easy-to-use financial services. PSD2, as the most significant regulation, will arguably make the greatest impact in opening up bank-held customer account data to Account Information Service Providers. The ecosystem of open banking would be influenced by PSD2. Firstly, PSD2 does not mandate the creation of common API standards. This means that individual banks may make their data available through different technical standards. Secondly, PSD2 only opens up access to customer transactional data for specific institutions, which must also be regulated PSPs. Furthermore, the concept of platform is a crucial factor for open banking, whereas regarding financial industry, the phenomenon of platforms has to be further developed. For payments and personal information this is expected to gain traction through the PSD2, as third parties can engage in service provisioning without actually owning bank assets. Open Banking extends this concept further.