eu ’ s strategy to address the effects of the financial crisis, but at the same time aims to bring greater transparency to markets and to strengthen investor protection. these changes are a key for restoring the trust in the eu financial markets. in reaction to the global financial crisis, the eu has also introduced the european market infrastructure regulation ( emir ) that initiates a reporting obligation for otc derivatives, a clearing obligation for eligible otc derivatives, measures to reduce counterparty credit risk and operational risk for bilaterally cleared otc derivatives, common rules for central counterparties ( ccps ) and trade repositories ( trs ), and rules on the establishment of interoperability between ccps. mifid 2 and emir are causing many changes in the financial market infrastructure, but changes are also happening as a result of other regulations such as the central securities depositories regulation and target 2 securities project. some of them will change market practices as well, not only financial infrastructure. to conclude, excessive risk taking and leveraging have been one of the main causes of the financial crisis. as we are all aware, various policy initiatives are on the policy agenda to enable effective financial services reform. a sound, stable and resilient financial sector capable of providing funding to the real economy is of major importance for growth in the medium and long term. both the financial reform agenda ( internationally coordinated by g20 ) and the unique project of creating a banking union with single supervisory and resolution mechanisms ( ssm, srm ) and a single rulebook will change the set - up of financial markets. the implementation of the financial sector reforms will also necessitate a vast amount of secondary legislation that may have a sizeable impact on the funding of the real economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches i hope that you will enjoy the workshop and that we will all learn much from the very impressive array of speakers. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

maja kadievska - vojnovik : fintech and digital transformation " regulating an anonymous world " platform for discussion by ms maja kadievska - vojnovik, vice - governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the xceed conference on fintex, belgrade, 22 - 23 may 2018. * * * fintech sector – general trends, current state in macedonia, main challenges and risks and impact on central banks ’ activity fintech is one of the fastest - growing sectors in the global financial services industry nowadays with total global venture investment in fintech companies reaching high of $ 13. 6 billion in 2016 ( kpmg, 2016 ). the highest number of fintech service providers is in the payments, clearing and settlement category, followed by credit, deposit and capital - raising services ( basel committee on the banking supervision survey, 2016 ). research in the area ( atkearney & efma, 2013 ) points to several factors that define readiness for digitization in the banking sector such as : 1 ) the capacity of banks for innovation ; 2 ) the stage of technological development where the country is located ; 3 ) the level of competition in the sector ; 4 ) culture of consumption ; 5 ) demographic structure of the population ; 6 ) degree of concentration in the banking sector ; and 7 ) the existing regulation, which can promote or constrain emergence of new technological solutions. on the other hand, there are some constraining factors that hamper digitalization in south east europe, including macedonia, such as : the negative effects that the financial crisis had on the ability of banks to innovate, and the local mentality of the population which still does not show a sufficient level of confidence in online activities. financial services industry in macedonia is in essence still traditional, conservative industry, but is evolving. banks strive to keep pace and fit in the new digital era by investing more and more funds in new products and financial innovations, as well as sponsoring software development conferences and new technologies. this is supported by relatively solid infrastructure for digitization in macedonia which is readily available at satisfactory level. for example, 76 % of households in macedonia had access to internet in 2017 vis - a - vis 85 % in the eu. on average, bank deponents have two payment accounts in macedonia. however, only 7 % of payment accounts held by the households can be used for electronic payments, while this share is relatively higher in case of