Supporting Moldova’s first currency issues via technical support, expertise and professional training was the first area of institutional cooperation. This was followed by a more focused collaboration in almost all areas of professional training. I would like to mention, for example, the 2001 project in the field of banking supervision, then the provision of technical assistance in the field of inflation targeting in 2010, but also the 2015–2017 twinning project on banking regulation and supervision. Also noteworthy is the multilateral cooperation, within the joint constituency at the International Monetary Fund, or during the meetings of the Central Banks Governors’ Club of the Central Asia, Black Sea region and Balkan countries. Given the time span of more than 30 years of close bilateral institutional cooperation between the National Bank of Romania and the National Bank of Moldova, highlighted by the strategic partnerships for developing and broadening cooperation in areas of mutual interest, I would like to emphasize the positive synergies created over time. I express my firm belief that these synergies are a major factor in advancing this project as well, but also the future ones. Let me also underline the major role played by the successive top-management teams of the National Bank of Moldova in carrying out these numerous bilateral cooperation projects and I take this opportunity to thank them and express my appreciation to those with whom we have worked.
While this means that MAS will be more probing in our supervision and dealings with financial institutions than in the past, we will need to be careful that this does not create an overly legalistic and combative relationship with the regulated entities. We share a common objective in having a regime that encourages growth based on sound and ethical business practices, and adherence to the spirit and letter of MAS’ standards, so that consumers can be well served. Consumers too have to play their part. The recent crisis reinforces the importance of investing only in products that they understand and taking steps to better safeguard their interests when making investment decisions. Although these points have been highlighted in various MoneySENSE guides and seminars, in times of rising asset markets, outreach efforts had not been easy, but we must persist. To help investors understand common financial products, we launched the MyMoney programme, in partnership with ABS, the Securities Investors Association (SIAS) and the Singapore Management University’s Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics. Speakers shared facts on the risks in investment products such as structured deposits, unit trusts, bonds and investment linked policies, highlighting risk-return trade-offs, and key issues consumers should consider before deciding whether to purchase a product. Going forward, we need to focus on new products when they are launched. We would like to see financial institutions organise educational initiatives in partnership with independent experts, when they launch products with features or structures that are new to the market.