Anita Angelovska Bezhoska: Modern central banks have to have open communication with the public Address by Ms Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, at the at the Journalist Workshop - 2019, organized by the NBRNM, Skopje, 27 December 2019. * * * Distinguished media representatives,  It is my honor and pleasure to welcome you at the beginning of our fifth workshop dedicated to you, journalists and the media. As a central bank, we are constantly investing in new ways and forms of public communication. But you – the seventh power in modern society, are the key link in the process of communicating our views to the general public, which is extremely important, given its heterogeneity. We all differ, we belong to different educational profiles and age groups, we have different interests and attitudes about risk, we respond differently to certain changes in the economy. Through your informative and research articles, you enable our analysis and data to be not only accessible but also understandable to more target groups. For us, this is very important, especially because as a central bank, we have an increasingly active role in both financial education and fostering financial inclusion. In modern times, communication with the public is actually part of the central banks’ set of instruments.
For instance, among the many findings in the report released by the Senior Supervisors Group is that firms which weathered the recent crisis better have senior management members who have expertise in a range of risks. This underscores the need to attract and develop talent not only in the frontline, but across critical functions and at various levels of the organisation. Financial institutions planning to expand must treat talent development as a strategic priority, and such development has to be undertaken in a holistic way, across the entire organisation. But this is not an easy task. There is a Chinese saying that it takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to develop an individual. Talent development requires consistent focus and commitment, from leaders at all levels of the organization. The efforts need to be sustained over many years, through good times and difficult times. The demographic changes in Asia coupled with rapid growth in the economies will make this task even more challenging in the coming years. Building a world class financial sector workforce IBF is committed to working with the industry to drive the development of talent in the financial sector. Let me now turn to some of the key initiatives undertaken in the last twelve months. Last year, we focused on increasing the industry’s adoption of the Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS). The FICS is a comprehensive framework for continual development of our financial professionals. We reached an important milestone in July 2007 with the appointment of 5 lead providers.