The Insurance Supervision Agency, the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Ministry of Finance, the Agency for Supervision of Fully Funded Pension Insurance and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of North Macedonia, all members of the Coordinative Body for Financial Education and Financial Inclusion signed a Memorandum of cooperation in the domain of financial education and financial inclusion.

The cooperation between the signatories, in accordance with the Memorandum, aims to raise awareness among the population about the need for financial education in the modern dynamic environment, as well as to see the advantages of financial inclusion. The Memorandum is expected to achieve the following objectives:

– Through integrated vision, implementation of educational projects and joint efforts of the signatories, it is expected that it will contribute to raising the level of financial literacy of the population and consequently improving the skills and ability to make sound financial decisions in practice;

– At the same time, the cooperation should enable raising the level of financial inclusion trough strengthening all aspects of accessibility, usefulness, efficiency and better sharing of information on financial services in the country, as well as adequate information on consumer rights in the financial sector. Enhancing financial education and improving financial inclusion should enable optimization the services offered by the financial system in order to support economic growth and social well-being;

– Also, through this Memorandum, activities for cooperation on a regional and international plan with other organizations and institutions in the field of financial education and financial inclusion are being initiated, planned and carried out.

In accordance with the efforts and the achievement of the objective set in the Memorandum, the signatories agree to participate in the following activities:

– encouraging the cooperation with the competent institutions in the country in the domain of financial education and financial inclusion;

– starting initiatives to the competent institutions regarding activities that will support financial education and financial inclusion of the population of the Republic of Macedonia;

– preparation of strategic documents in the area of financial education and financial inclusion;

– defining, proposing and participating in joint projects and activities, improving the financial education and financial inclusion in the country;

– defining, proposing and participating in projects in cooperation with the private sector, in accordance with the scope of activities of the individual signatories;

– applying the best practices and recommendations of the international organizations and institutions;

– organizing and conducting surveys, as well as monitoring the available data on the level of financial literacy and financial inclusion in the country;

– organizing working sessions, seminars and other types of trainings for raising the financial literacy in the country;

– cooperation in the field of monitoring the financial innovations and preparation for their possible application in the country, as well as adequate financial education and monitoring of the financial inclusion of the population in the field of financial innovation;

– promoting regional and international cooperation in the field of financial education and financial inclusion; and

– sharing information in the field of financial education and financial inclusion for the individual projects of each of the signatories with the other signatories.