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During October, three trainings – in the area of financial stability, internal audit, and European integration - were held in virtual format for representatives of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) and the central banks of the Western Balkans region. They were a part of the IPA regional project titled “Programme for Strengthening the Central Bank Capacities in the Western Balkans with a view to the Integration to the European System of Central Banks”.

At the financial stability training, experts from the National Bank of Romania, the National Bank of Belgium, and the Bank of Greece presented the NPLs’ macroprudential perspectives and macroprudential stress tests. They also spoke about other topics on how to improve macroprudential measures to maintain financial stability. Also, workshops on stress testing for households and the economy were successfully conducted.

The National Bank of Belgium organised the training in internal audit in cooperation with experts from the Bank of Slovenia and the Bank of Spain. The training topics included the development of the Internal Audit strategic plan, the audit planning methodology, the audit of the second line of defence function and the cyber security audit.

Participants in the training in European integration had the opportunity to exchange experience with colleagues from the National Bank of Austria and the National Bank of Romania regarding the central banks’ role and activities in the EU accession process. They also discussed the harmonisation of central bank regulations to future integration into the EU and the ESCB / Eurosystem. Through the exchange of information with the ECB experts, training participants had the opportunity to learn about the legal aspects of the ECB functioning, the ECB working bodies and cooperation with the national central banks of the ESCB.