CBCG: The Council considered several acts aimed at further strengthening the regulatory framework

The Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) discussed several acts aimed at further strengthening the regulatory framework, improving supervision of financial service providers, and modernizing the payment system at its session today.

The Council adopted the Draft Amendments to the Law on Financial Leasing, Factoring, Purchase of Receivables, Microcrediting and Credit Guarantee Operations.

"The draft was prepared with the aim of further improving the existing regulatory framework and adapting it to market development, new business models and risks in the operations of financial service providers," the Central Bank of Montenegro announced.

The proposed changes, as they explained, strengthen the requirements in the area of ​​corporate governance, internal control systems and risk management, thereby improving the CBCG's supervision mechanisms, encouraging safer operations of these entities and further protecting clients and the financial system as a whole.

"This further strengthens the integrity of the financial system and meets the requirements of further harmonisation with European standards," the statement said.

One of the important innovations is the introduction of the possibility of establishing a company for combined financial operations, which, with the permission of the Central Bank of Montenegro, could simultaneously perform financial leasing, factoring and microcrediting activities.

"Given the complexity of such a business model, stricter capital, organizational, personnel and technical requirements are foreseen, including a minimum cash portion of the founding capital of two million EUR," the Central Bank of Montenegro said.

The Council also adopted a Draft Amendments to the Law on Financial Conglomerates, which fully aligns the regulatory framework in this area with the relevant European Union (EU) directive.

This alignment represents one of the prerequisites for the closure of Negotiation Chapter 9 – Financial Services.

The Council also adopted amendments to the Decision on the minimum value of payment transactions that must be processed in the RTGS system, which increases the threshold for mandatory execution of payment transactions in the RTGS system from one thousand to three thousand euros.

"This change creates conditions for harmonizing the retail payment system and more efficient transaction processing, and at the same time represents part of the preparations for the development of a domestic instant payment system within the TIPS Clone project, while ensuring adequate technical implementation by banks," the Central Bank of Montenegro stated.

The session also adopted amendments to the Decision on the Central Registry of Transaction Accounts and Deposits and Safe Deposit Boxes, in order to align it with the provisions of the Rulebook on the detailed method of determining the tax identification number.

"The Council also adopted decisions on the use and balancing of jubilee gold and silver coins issued to mark the 25th anniversary of the Central Bank of Montenegro and 20 years since the restoration of Montenegrin independence, which created the conditions for these commemorative coins to be offered to interested buyers," the statement said.

At today's session, the Council also considered and adopted other materials within its jurisdiction.