"There are a lot of small banks that concentrate on clients who are also their founders. This raises problems such as conflict of interest. Further liberalization of the entry of foreign banks is needed. For example, there is a regulation that states that branches of foreign banks cannot be opened in Macedonia before 1 January 2008. I think that we should start reassessing the justification of such regulation immediately. In order for the problems in the bank sector to be overcome, the National Bank of Macedonia should also strengthen its supervision", Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski said in Sunday's interview for Radio Free Europe.

Slaveski assessed the bank system in Macedonia as relatively weak with a very low level of competition.