anita angelovska bezhoska : international cooperation for a green and sustainable economy remarks by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the green for growth fund dinner, skopje, 14 september 2023. * * * introduction distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. first, let me express my deep appreciation to the management of the green for growth fund for inviting me to join this gathering enriched with the presence of different stakeholders - public and private, european and domestic, which nicely symbolizes inclusive and joint national and international efforts needed to tackle one of the most critical global priorities – climate change. according to the latest world economic forum survey1, climate change is one of the top two global risks, both in the medium and long run, alongside geopolitical fragmentation. it does not come as a surprise, given the estimates that climate change reduces global economic growth by 0. 4 p. p., with a more pronounced effect in emerging economies ( 0. 7 p. p. ), and perhaps even more importantly, losses are estimated to further increase. this, in particular, is increasingly important for less developed economies that tend to be highly vulnerable to climate risks, but are short of adequate fiscal and more broadly financial resources to mitigate these risks. climate change affects all regions around the world. polar ice shields are melting and the sea is rising. in some regions, extreme weather events and rainfall are becoming more common while others are experiencing more extreme heat waves and droughts. this summer, we have witnessed record - breaking droughts, heatwaves, and floods that caused suffering and huge losses across every continent. data show that july 2023 was the hottest month on record globally2. given the severe toll that climate change is already taking, it would not be an overstatement to say that the time for action is long past due. along those lines, at the recent g - 20 summit in india, global leaders committed to urgently accelerate the actions recognizing that physical and transitional policy risks have also a profound short, medium, and long - term macroeconomic impact, including on inflation and financial systems3. central banks have recently significantly increased their attention to climate risks, due to the large impact on their mandates in achieving price and financial stability. recent surveys point to a rising awareness and actions by the central banking community. according to invesco survey, conducted in 2021, more than two - thirds of the central

incentives to reach a socially viable equilibrium. in this sense the regulator monitors the development of the market and technological advances to be able : to foster innovation ( and better customer experience ) ; strike the right balance between security and efficiency ; adapt the regulation to new services ; put in place effective consumer protection measures ; ensure fair competition among market players ; avoid regulatory arbitrage. the new regulatory framework in macedonia which is in an advanced stage of drafting, aims at balancing safety and creativity. in order to protect consumers and maintain financial stability, the new framework envisages licensing regime for the non - banking payment service providers as well as an appropriate safeguarding measures for client ’ s funds. however, it supports the grow of start - ups in the fintech sector by easing some of the regulatory requirements related to the initial capital, bcp, external audit etc. moreover, it intends to allow already established companies or start - ups that aim to provide payment services to be involved in other business activities allowing them to diversify the business risk and freedom to grow. open banking – benefits, challenges and risks digital disruption is the driver that enables banks to keep pace with customer demands. by adopting the right digital business model, banks can take advantage of open banking to unleash new business value. being an open bank means operating like a platform company, with a business model that connects people and processes with assets and a technology infrastructure to manage internal and external users ’ interactions. open banking — a platform - based business approach — is a new way of how banks generate value, born out of the increasing pressures from regulations and competitors. outside the banking domain, industry leaders like google, apple, facebook, amazon and alibaba are unleashing technology ’ s power by developing platform - based business models and taking advantage of the strategies they enable. since the beginning of 2018, sharing proprietary data with third parties is not an option for european banks, with psd2 in the european union. investments are being made to make this a reality ; almost $ 1 billion was invested in psd2 enabled services in 2016 ( up to 200 percent from 2015 ) 1. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches in the core of open banking are the application programming interfaces ( apis ), which has also been used and facilitated by ebay starting in early 2000s, and also by technological giants like google, apple, uber, and so on. thus, banks could have similar benefits by adopting the apis or the open banking concept.