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30/09/2025

The Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro determined the Draft Law Amending the Law on Credit Institutions. The last amendments to the law from February 2025 fully aligned the Law with the relevant EU regulations. In the meantime, the regulatory framework governing financial services was significantly amended and will be implemented in the EU from 11 January 2026. To maintain the timeline of harmonising the domestic legal framework with EU standards and of fulfilling the first benchmark from the Negotiation Chapter 9, the CBCG has prepared a new Draft Law. It includes requirements concerning the digital resilience of the financial market (DORA package) and the new framework for regulating cryptoassets (MiCA regulation), and final standards related to capital requirements and risk management (CRD 6/CRR 3 package). Improving this systemic law will ensure that the domestic banking sector continues to operate in full compliance with the highest European standards, which further strengthens the system’s stability and the citizens and investors’ trust.

Specific changes relate to:

• improving the risk management system, especially concentration risk resulting from exposure to central counterparties and ESG risk;
• expanding activities, that is, the scope of financial services that credit institutions may perform, which are related to e-money, cryptocurrencies and property-related tokens;
• introducing a new requirement regarding the acquisition or sale of a material share, which implies the acquisition of a material share in entities of the financial or non-financial sector of at least 15% of the recognised capital of the acquirer of that share;
• improving requirements for assessing the eligibility of members of the credit institution's management body, including the assessment of the fitness of persons responsible for the work of internal control functions and the chief financial director in certain entities;
• improving the requirement for credit institutions in the information and communication technology (ICT).

To further align with the EU regulatory framework, the Council adopted the Decision on closer conditions for providing financial support within the group of credit institutions and the Decision Amending the Decision on Managing Outsourcing-Related Risks. 

The Council supported the CBCG’s initiative to join the international security platform OSSAT (Operational Security Situational Awareness Teleconference), led by the ECB and which brings together central banks, regulators and international financial institutions to exchange information and strengthen cyber resilience. The CBCG's membership in OSSAT will provide access to confidential intelligence data and experiences, which represents an important step in improving the security and modernisation of the domestic financial infrastructure.

The Council discussed and adopted the Macroeconomic Report of the Central Bank of Montenegro 1/2025, Governor’s Report on Operations and Implementation of the CBCG Policy for July-August 2025, Report on Bank Lending Survey Results for Q2 2025, the Decision amending the Decision on determining tariff for calculating fees charged for the Central Bank of Montenegro services, as well as other materials from the domain of its competence.