Thirty-fourth session of the CBCG Council held
27/11/2018
The Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro held its thirty-fourth session, chaired by the Governor, Radoje Žugić.
The Council discussed and adopted the Governor`s Report on Central Bank of Montenegro Business Activities and Policy Implementation for October 2018, which noted that the activities of the CBCG conducted during the reporting period were implemented in line with the planned commitments established by the CBCG Work Programme for 2018.
At the meeting held today, the Council determined the Central Bank of Montenegro Policy in 2019, which defines the objectives for pursuing the CBCG functions to be implemented during the next year. The documents defines that, with a view to further strengthening of the whole financial system, the CBCG will continue to follow the policy of monetary and financial stability based on taking all necessary activities and using all available instruments and measures within its competence.
The Council also adopted the Central Bank of Montenegro Financial Plan for 2019, which was prepared based on the implementation of the financial plan for the nine months of 2018 and the projections of expected revenues and expenditures in the next year. Prepared in accordance with the principles of rational and responsible business activities, the Financial Plan provides the necessary conditions for the achievement of the objectives and the performance of the CBCG functions.
Today, the Council also discussed and adopted the working drafts of the Law on the comparability of fees related to payment accounts and of payment account switching and of the Law on interchange fees and special operation rules for card-based payment transactions. The drafting of these laws was conditioned by the harmonisation of domestic legislation on payment system with the new EU legislation. With a view to meeting these obligations, the Council agreed to send the working drafts of the laws to the Ministry of Finance for further procedure.
With a view to timely compliance with the obligations from the Law on Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro that stipulates the obligation of the CBCG to supervise the Fund’s operations, the Council passed the Decision on the manner of calculating capital adequacy ratio of the Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro and the Decision on minimum standards for risk management for the Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro.
The Council also adopted the Quarterly report on banks’ operations and the Quarterly report of micro-credit financial institutions (MFIs). The report indicates that the banking system was recording favourable trends in Q3 2018, with banks experiencing growth in assets, loans, deposits, and capital. During the first nine months of 2018, the banking system operated with profit of 29.8 million euros. The MFI sector experienced stability, growth in key balance sheet positions and growing liquidity, with mild decline in loans and slight increase in interest rates. The financial result at the system level was positive.
On today’s meeting, the Council adopted the Decision on terminating the bankruptcy proceeding over the Ekos Banka AD Podgorica and the Decision on issuing approval for issuing electronic money and for providing payment services to MTEL d.o.o Podgorica.
Along with aforementioned documents, the Council also discussed other current issues from the domain of its competence at today's session.