NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Pursuant to Article 47 paragraph 1 item 6 of the Law on the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 158/10, 123/12, 43/14, 153/15, 6/16 and 83/18 and Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 110/21, 74/24 and 16/25) and Article 42 paragraph 9 item 6, and in connection with Article 172 paragraph 3 of the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems (Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 90/22, 64/24, 37/25, 144/25 and 267/25), the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia Council adopted the following

DECISION on the leading bank number of the payment service providers and the standards for constructing the payment accounts

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. This Decision shall prescribe the following:

• the assigning of a leading bank number to payment service providers by the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia (hereinafter: the National Bank); and

• the standards for constructing the payment accounts maintained by the payment service providers to which the National Bank has assigned a leading bank number.

  2. The provisions of this Decision shall accordingly be applied to the construction of the settlement accounts that the National Bank opens in accordance with the law.

II. ASSIGNING A LEADING BANK NUMBER TO THE PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDER

3. The leading bank number of the payment service provider shall:

• be a fixed, unique identification and unrepeatable number of the payment service provider;

• consist of three numeric characters (n1, n2, n3);

• be published on the leading bank numbers list maintained and published by the National Bank at its website;

• be used to construct the unique identification mark (number) of the payment account of the payment service user opened and managed by the payment service provider.

  4. The leading bank number of the payment service provider shall be assigned upon a request from the payment service provider submitted to the National Bank.

III. STANDARDS FOR CONSTRUCTING THE PAYMENT ACCOUNT NUMBER WHICH IS MAINTAINED BY THE PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDER

5. The number of the payment account maintained by the payment service provider and through which payment transactions are carried out in denars or in currency other than denar shall be constructed by the payment service provider using the international standard ISO 13616 and is the IBAN standard (IBAN = International Bank Account Number) with the format MKkk BBB CCCCCCCCCC KK, where:

• MK = first two characters (character consisting of two capital latin letters, using MK as a fix code for the Republic of North Macedonia in conformity with the International standard ISO 3166 – 1);

• kk = 07 (two numeric places for which algorithmically calculated number according to the international standard ISO 7064, MODULE 97 is used);

• BBB = fixed number of the payment service provider (three numeric places), which shall be the leading bank number of the payment service provider for the execution of payment transactions, assigned by the National Bank;

• CCCCCCCCCC = the payment account number (ten numeric places) of the payment account holder, which shall be determined by the payment service provider; and

• KK = control number (two numeric places) shall be the number calculated based on the sequence of thirteen digits (the leading bank number of the payment service provider and the payment account number) according to the international standard ISO 7064, MODULE 97. The control number shall be obtained when the sequence of the first thirteen digits is multiplied by 100, the result is divided by 97, and the residue is subtracted from the number 98. The two digits result shall represent the control number.

  6. The payment account number constructed in accordance with the requirements of item 5 of this Decision shall consist of Arabic numerals from 0 to 9 and capital Latin letters from A to Z, and shall be used as a unique identification mark in terms of the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems.

  7. The payment service provider shall construct a payment account number in accordance with the requirements of item 5 of this Decision if it is used as a unique identification mark when initiating, processing and executing national and cross-border payment transactions via credit transfer or direct debit from or to the payment account, with another payment service provider in the country or abroad.

  8. The payment service provider shall be obliged for each opened payment account in accordance with item 6 of this Decision to:

• construct the payment account number in accordance with the requirements of item 5 of this Decision on the day the payment account is opened;

• exchange in writing the payment account number from indent 1 of this item with the holder of the payment account; and

• exchange in writing the payment account number constructed in accordance with item 5 of this Decision with the payment account holder in case of events specified in the provisions of items 9, 10, 11 and 12 of this Decision.

  9. In the event of a merger of payment service providers, the payment account number constructed in accordance with this Decision may be used to execute payment transactions maximum one year after the merger. The payment service provider established by the merger shall be obliged to the payment service users of the merged payment service providers to construct a new payment account number in accordance with this Decision no later than one year after the merger.

  10. In the event of an acquisition of one payment service provider to another payment service provider, the payment account number which in accordance with this Decision is determined by the payment service provider that is being acquired to another provider may be used to execute payment transactions within a period of one year from the acquisition. The acquirer payment service provider may, for the purposes of executing payment transactions, use the leading bank number of the acquiree payment service provider during that period. The acquirer payment service provider shall in accordance with this Decision assign a new payment account number to the previous payment service users of the acquired payment service provider, no later than one year from the acquisition.

  11. The payment service provider that receives a payment order in favor of the payment account number of the payment service provider that has merged with another payment service provider or of a payment service provider that was acquired by another payment service provider, should enable, in accordance with the relevant regulations, execution of the payment transaction in favor of the payment service provider that was established by a merger or the acquirer payment service provider, within one year from the merger i.e. the acquisition of the payment service provider, in case the execution of such payment transactions is enabled by the payment system it participates in.

  12. If the payment service provider that was established by merger or the acquirer payment service provider has already assigned a new payment account number to the previous payment service users of the payment service provider that was merged or acquired in accordance with item 5 of this Decision, the received payment transaction from item 11 of this Decision shall be recorded in favor of the new payment account number of that payment service user.

IV. TRANSITIONAL AND CLOSING PROVISIONS

13. The leading bank numbers of the payment service providers assigned by the National Bank before this Decision enters into force shall remain valid.

14. The numbers of the opened payment accounts that were constructed by payment service providers according to the BBAN standard and exchanged with payment service users until the day of implementation of this Decision shall remain valid after the day of implementation of this Decision, are part to construct a payment account referred to in item 5 indents 3, 4 and 5 of this Decision.

15. The payment service providers shall be obliged, from the date of commencement of the implementation of the standard ISO 20022 XML for exchange of transfer orders in the payment system for payment and settlement of large and urgent payments MIPS, to provide initiation, processing and execution of all national payment transactions by using the IBAN standard, as a unique identification mark of the payment account.

16. Once this Decision starts being applied, the payment orders that do not contain a valid payment account constructed according to the IBAN standard shall be considered improper payment orders and may be rejected by the payment service provider or by the payment system in accordance with its operating rules.

17. The implementation of this Decision shall supersede the Decision on the leading bank number of the payment service providers and the standards for constructing the payment accounts (Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 289/22).

18. This Decision shall enter into force on the eighth day from the date of publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia, and its application shall commence on 1 November 2026.

D. No.02-28052/5
31 August 2026
Skopje

Trajko Slaveski, PhD
Governor and Chairperson of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia Council