Baku, Azerbaijan, March 14
By Emin Aliyev - Trend:
The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Azerbaijan has called for the speeding up the process to create the country's first private credit bureau. This is stated in a package of proposals for the development of the business climate in Azerbaijan in 2014, published annually by the Chamber.
'The credit bureaus are essential for the effective management of the corresponding risks. Their activities will reduce the volume of overdue loans and consequently a reduction in the cost of lending resulting in the lowering of interest rates', the package said.
AmCham welcomed the Azerbaijani Central Bank`s activities in this regard in the framework of developing a centralized credit registry, according to the document.
'It is also necessary to note the progress on the work of adoption of the law 'On the private credit bureaus'. Furthermore, the Chamber recommends expansion of the Centralised Credit Registry through inclusion of the information received from utility companies, as well as introduction of detailed information on lien', the package of proposals said.
An executive committee on the establishment of the first private credit bureau in Azerbaijan is finalising work on the project. Talks on the signing of a contract for the provision of a technical partnership with the bureau are planned for the first quarter of 2014. That partner will get the bureau's controlling stake of 51 per cent of the equity.
The international partner will be contractor of the software provision for the bureau. Arising from experience, the International Finance Corporation also proposes to give a majority stake in the credit bureau which will be created in Azerbaijan, only to those who know how to manage it. This will reduce risks in the credit bureau and in particular to exclude disputes between banks on certain issues.
Furthermore, work on the development of the draft law 'On private credit bureaus' is finishing.
Potential shareholders of the first private credit bureau creation in Azerbaijan are Access Bank, AGBank, Azerbaycan Sənaye Bankı, Bank Respublika, Dəmir Bank, Muganbank, PASHA Bank, Turan Bank , Yapı Kredit Bank Azerbaijan and UniBank.
Since 2005, formation of credit histories of debtors started in Azerbaijan after the establishment of the Central Credit Register Service (CCR) under the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. The register covers the whole spectrum of personal data about banks, non-bank credit institutions, debtors, owners of large stock packages of participation in debtors' capital, their credits and pledges on them.
The credit bureau in turn will be able to collect credit information from other financial institutions such as leasing companies, organisations involved in micro-crediting and non-financial organisations including communal and telecommunications companies and trading by selling goods on credit.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.M.
