BNR’s  official: Financial fraud still comfortably manageable in Romania, also due to cash dominance

   The way things are now, financial fraud is still comfortably manageable in Romania compared to other, financially much more developed countries, the more so as cash is still dominant here as a means of payment, deputy director of the National Bank of Romania's Financial Market Infrastructure and Payments Oversight Directorate Claudiu Negrea told the "Banking Innovation Lab" conference on Tuesday.In the central bank official's opinion, the job of a banker, the relationship between the banker and the customer, should not disappear altogether. Negrea also emphasized that the central bank will not give up the cash service because it is important, especially in crisis situations."This relationship must stay in place because the AI will never be capable of this emotion that is conveyed between two human interlocutors. (...) We encourage progressively giving up cash services, but the central bank will never discontinue the cash service, because it is important that it stays in place, particularly in times of crisis. Unfortunately, the last crisis period was right at our borders and showed us the real value of cash," said the BNR representative.He also spoke about the regulatory framework for payments - PSD2, and about certain measures to strengthen payments security (PSD3), increasing the liability of payment service providers when a fraud occurs.According to Negrea, PSD2 created new opportunities for smaller companies to innovate and bring about financial benefits, setting the background in place for the emergence of fintech companies - a type of entities that encouraged and sped up the financial digitization process.On the other hand, he urged for great care with online shopping, even if the procedure is simple, because of the risk posed by almost perfectly cloned websites. "We are at such an advanced stage that money can be transferred from one account into another in just 10 seconds. We also have European regulations that will require all players in the European market to make instant payments in 10 seconds. We'll have the convenience of sending money to Spain or Italy in just 10 seconds and at some totally manageable costs, which is a joy for everyone - us, authorities, included - because we'll be able to better check on the liquidity that is leaving or entering the country," said the BNR official.Representatives of several financial institutions and associations participated on Tuesday in the "Banking Innovation Lab" conference organized by the BankingNews publication. Debates at the conference looked at the role of digitization in the development of the banking industry and in the process of financial inclusion, as well as at the challenges of the digital transformation and cyber security.