Skopje, 19 August 2021 (MIA) — Bearing in mind that at the moment, some 40,000 citizens cannot renew or get their first identity cards issued because of a deadlock in Parliament regarding proposed amendments to the Law on the Personal Identification Card, the Macedonian Banking Association, together with the Central Bank and the Financial Intelligence Office, has found a solution to the problem of citizens denied access to banking services because their ID cards had expired, according to an official MBA press release. According to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, in addition to identity cards, valid passports are also considered personal identification documents, the release reads. Hence, the MBA points out, citizens with valid passports can use them to access banking services. In case a citizen has no valid passport, they can prove their identity by showing proof of receipt of an ID application form submitted to the Ministry of Interior. The proof of receipt, the MBA notes, is given to every citizen when applying for a new identification card. Banks have already been notified to give access to banking services to citizens using these two ways of proving their identity, the release adds. As soon as citizens with expired IDs or passports receive their new personal identification documents, the MBA says, they need to contact their banks to have their information updated. mr/