This implies not only that the banking system itself has remained robust, but also that it has fulfilled its mission, providing significant support to the economy, restructuring loans and granting new ones. Specific figures are well known, but still I would like to repeat these data again. Last year, corporate lending expanded by 10%, which is nearly two times more than in 2019 before the pandemic. Lending to small businesses increased by 20%. Disbursements peaked in spring when businesses desperately needed financial resources and their revenues plummeted. Lending was largely a way to support wages and repay loans, and so on. The banking system was thus capable to address this challenge in spring. Of course, the Government’s preferential lending programmes were also of major importance. We can see that mortgage lending surged last year by over 20%, but I will dwell on this topic later. Both preferential mortgage lending programmes and interest rate decreases in the economy in general played a significant role in this respect. Consumer lending used to be a matter of our concern before the pandemic, but last year it was growing moderately, in our opinion, adding about 9%. In this regard, banks were reasonable and conservative in their assessments of borrowers’ risks. Moreover, borrowers themselves preferred not to increase their liabilities in such an uncertain environment. Loan restructuring has become one of the main channels for the financial system to support the economy.
In fact, even for countries such as the Republic of Macedonia, with relatively modest financial education and low utilization of modern technologies in the financial area, the question that arises is not whether, but when the digitization process will engulf the domestic banking system. In this light, I would like to point to the process of digitization and use of information technology not as a threat against the competition in banking, but as a new opportunity to bring financial services closer to as many clients as possible, to raise financial inclusion and literacy, and to ensure better allocation of resources, as phenomena of greater economic and social significance. 1/2  BIS central bankers' speeches  On the other hand, the application of new technological solutions brings changes in the range of risks that banks face and manage in their day-to-day operations. In addition to the conventional bank risks such as credit risk, interest rate risk, currency risk, the importance of non-financial operational risks will gradually increase. Increased use of modern technical solutions will mean greater significance of the risks related to the information systems security, the confidentiality of the data, the storage of information content, the access and the maintenance of the payment systems. At the end, before awarding the Best Counter Officers, allow me to express gratitude on my behalf and on behalf of the National Bank for their daily and painstaking work in the banks’ branches. Thank you for your attention and congratulations on the World Savings Day! 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches