CHISINAU, MOLDOVA – The Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) announced the launch of a technical assistance program to help support economic growth and improve the institutional capacity of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM). The new program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is administered through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA).
FSVC is a not-for-profit organization that deploys volunteer experts to emerging market countries to help strengthen their financial sectors. Since 1990, FSVC has implemented over 1,830 activities in Central and Eastern Europe, including Moldova.
As part of this program, FSVC will assist the NBM with establishing a Central Securities Depository (CSD), advancing a financial inclusion strategy, including the adoption of mobile payments systems, and strengthening the NBM’s organizational capacity, especially in the area of crisis communications. These measures will help the NBM operate more effectively, promoting the safety and soundness of the financial sector, and help prevent economic crises.
“We are delighted to partner with FSVC to adopt and implement these reforms in line with international best practices,” said NBM Governor Sergiu Cioclea. “Establishing confidence in the financial sector is of critical importance to Moldova as we look to spur economic growth.”
FSVC President & CEO Andrew Spindler added “FSVC is pleased to help the NBM address several key challenges that are keeping Moldova from realizing its full economic potential. A single CSD will help strengthen the country’s capital markets, which will help mobilize domestic and foreign investment. Additionally, an effective financial inclusion strategy will bring more people into the formal financial sector, encouraging savings, borrowing and investment by previously unbanked segments of the population. FSVC has a long history of supporting financial sector development throughout the region, including an excellent track record of work in Moldova in the 1990s. We are delighted to return to Moldova to assist the NBM at this important time.”