Three days. Seven panels.
One regional industry, reimagined.

Welcome Cocktail

Open-air bar — location TBD. Informal evening to meet fellow attendees before the conference begins.

• ▸Relaxed dress code — come as you are

Registration & Welcome Coffee

Badge collection, coffee, and Innovation Expo preview.

Opening Ceremony

• ▸Welcome address — President, Group of Non-Banking Financial Companies, Economic Chamber of North Macedonia
• ▸Address — Minister of Finance of North Macedonia
• ▸Address — Governor, National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia

PANEL 1 — Why We Matter: The Role of Non-Bank Lending in the Western Balkans

A manifesto panel: making the case for why non-bank lenders are essential to the regional economy.

Format: Moderated panel — CEOs of non-bank lenders, banking sector representative, DFI officer, industry association leader

• ▸Financial inclusion gap — who are the 40%+ of adults underserved by banks in the WB?
• ▸SME access to credit — the missing middle between microloans and corporate banking
• ▸Banks & non-bank lenders: not competitors but complementary — how partnership creates value
• ▸Employment & economic impact — what do non-bank lenders actually contribute?
• ▸Public perception vs. reality — addressing the “predatory lender” narrative

Speakers TBA

Coffee Break & Innovation Expo

Live demos from fintech companies and technology partners.

PANEL 2 — Digital Lending in Practice: What Actually Works in Our Markets

Honest conversation about digitization — what’s deployed, what flopped, what’s next.

Format: Moderated panel — CTOs and COOs of regional lenders, lending tech vendors, credit bureau representatives

• ▸Where are WB lenders really on the digital maturity curve?
• ▸Loan origination systems — the backbone upgrades that actually moved the needle
• ▸Credit scoring with limited data — what works when you don’t have Open Banking?
• ▸SME lending — product design when formal data is thin
• ▸Build vs. buy vs. partner — practical decisions for lenders with 10-50 employees

Speakers TBA

Fireside Chat — The Lender Who Went Digital First

A candid conversation with a CEO who bet the company on digital transformation.

Format: 1-on-1 interview + audience Q&A

• ▸What actually changed — cost structure, speed, default rates, customer profile?
• ▸What they wish they’d known before starting
• ▸The uncomfortable truth about legacy teams and digital transformation

Speakers TBA

Interactive Lunch Tables

Choose your table — each one led by a moderator with a focused topic. After lunch, each table shares key takeaways with the room.

• ▸Table 1: Legal & Compliance
• ▸Table 2: Product & UX
• ▸Table 3: Collections & Recovery
• ▸Table 4: Technology & Data
• ▸Table 5: CEO & Strategy

PANEL 3 — Credit Mobility: Data Portability & the Migrant Worker Challenge

Dream project: building credit infrastructure for people who move across borders.

Format: High-level discussion — credit bureau directors, central bank officials, fintech infrastructure builders, DFI program managers

• ▸The problem: 2M+ seasonal/migrant workers in the WB with zero portable credit history
• ▸State of credit bureaus in each WB country — what data exists, what’s shared, what isn’t
• ▸Can we build a regional credit passport? Technical, legal, and political barriers
• ▸Lessons from EU: ECSP regulation, pan-European credit data initiatives
• ▸First steps: bilateral bureau agreements, data standardization pilots, DFI role

Speakers TBA

Workshop — Practical Credit Scoring When Data Is Scarce

Hands-on session — building decisioning logic with limited inputs.

Format: 15-min framing + 30-min group exercise with real anonymized data

• ▸Scoring a thin-file applicant using only available data points in a WB market
• ▸Alternative data: utility, telco, e-commerce, employer
• ▸Simple scorecard vs. ML — when does complexity help and when does it hurt?

Speakers TBA

Coffee Break & Innovation Expo

Second round of expo demos and 1-on-1 meetings.

PANEL 4 — Funding Growth: Where Does the Capital Come From?

The existential question for non-bank lenders: capitalization pathways beyond DFI grants.

Format: Moderated panel — DFI investment officers, impact fund managers, lender CFOs, bond/securitization advisors

• ▸Current funding landscape — how are WB lenders actually funded today?
• ▸DFI dependency — what happens when grant cycles end?
• ▸Institutional investors and impact funds — what do they need to see?
• ▸Securitization and forward flow — is the WB market ready?
• ▸Deposit-taking, bond issuance, P2P — regulatory pathways

Speakers TBA

Day 1 Closing Remarks

Key takeaways and preview of Day 2.

Gala Dinner & Cultural Evening

Celebrating the spirit of the Balkans.

• ▸Traditional Macedonian cuisine and award-winning local wines
• ▸Live music and cultural performance
• ▸MicroBalkans Innovation Award 2026 ceremony

Registration & Coffee

Day 2 Opening

• ▸Recap of Day 1 highlights and key insights
• ▸Setting the stage for regulation, trust, and forward-looking discussions

PANEL 5 — The Rules Are Changing: EU Regulation, APR Caps & What’s Coming in 2027

Practical guidance: what do lenders need to do NOW to be ready?

Format: High-level forum — central bank officials, EU delegation advisors, compliance directors, legal experts

• ▸CCD II (November 2026) — what changes for non-bank lenders in EU-aspirant countries?
• ▸EU AI Act (August 2026) — impact on automated credit decisioning and scoring models
• ▸APR caps tightening across the region — country-by-country status
• ▸eIDAS 2.0 digital identity wallet — opportunity or threat?
• ▸Compliance cost reality — investment, who can afford it, who gets squeezed out?

Speakers TBA

Coffee Break & Innovation Expo

Startup Pitch Stage — Fintech Innovators of the Balkans

5 startups from the region pitch live to the MicroBalkans community.

• ▸Each startup: 5-minute pitch + 3-minute Q&A
• ▸Focus: lending infrastructure, scoring, collections tech, borrower tools, compliance automation
• ▸Audience voting for the MicroBalkans Startup Award 2026
• ▸Jury: investors, lender CEOs, technology leaders

Speakers TBA

PANEL 6 — The Other Half of Lending: Collections, Recovery & the Customer Relationship

The part of lending nobody talks about at conferences — but everyone deals with every day.

Format: Practitioners’ session — debt agency CEO, head of collections from a regional lender, collections tech provider

• ▸Digital collections — what automation actually works
• ▸Outsource vs. in-house — when to use a debt agency, when to keep it internal
• ▸Collections as customer retention — how you collect determines whether you keep the client
• ▸NPL portfolio management — hold, restructure, or sell?
• ▸Regulatory pressure on collection practices

Speakers TBA

PANEL 7 — Responsible Lending & Consumer Trust: Our License to Operate

The industry’s biggest reputational challenge: earning and keeping public trust.

Format: Moderated panel — consumer protection officials, financial literacy advocates, association leaders, regulator

• ▸Over-indebtedness in the WB — how bad is it, what can the industry do?
• ▸Transparency in practice — pricing, fees, real APR vs. advertised, complaint handling
• ▸Industry self-regulation: codes of conduct, ombudsman
• ▸Financial literacy initiatives that actually work
• ▸What regulators need to see from the industry

Speakers TBA

CEO Roundtable — What Keeps You Up at Night?

Unscripted conversation with 3–4 CEOs from leading regional lenders.

Format: Moderated conversation with audience interaction

• ▸Margin compression — can the business survive if APR caps drop further?
• ▸Talent — where do you find people who understand both lending and technology?
• ▸The bank threat — are banks finally waking up to the segments we serve?
• ▸What would you do differently if you started your company today?

Speakers TBA

Closing Ceremony — From Ideas to Action

• ▸Key takeaways from both conference days
• ▸MicroBalkans Alliance commitments for 2026–2027
• ▸MicroBalkans 27 location reveal
• ▸Closing address by the President of the Group of Non-Banking Financial Companies

Farewell Lunch

Final networking over local cuisine before afternoon activities.

Optional Afternoon Activities

Pre-registration required. Choose one: Canyon Matka boat tour, Skopje Old Bazaar food tour, or a Macedonian winery experience.

• ▸Option A — Canyon Matka boat tour & Vrelo Cave (≈ 3h, transport included)
• ▸Option B — Skopje Old Bazaar food & culture tour (≈ 2h, walking)
• ▸Option C — Macedonian winery experience (≈ 3h, transport included)