BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Uzbekistan will carry out stage-by-stage privatization of the state share of six local banks, Trend reports with reference to Uzbekistan National News Agency.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on reforming the banking system on May 12. The main directions of banking sector reform in Uzbekistan have been defined.
One of the main directions is to improve the efficiency of the banking system by reducing the dependence of banks on government resources, a phased abolition of non-core functions of banks, the message said.
With the assistance of international financial institutions, a step-by-step privatization of the state share in AKIB Ipoteka Bank, AKB Uzpromstroybank, AKB Asaka, Alokabank, AKB Kishlok Kurilish Bank and AKB Turonbank will be carried out, providing for their institutional transformation (transformation of activity) at the first stage and implementation of the state block of shares at the second stage.
The state's share in the authorized capitals of JSC National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity, JSCB Agrobank and JSCB Microcreditbank is preserved in order to meet the needs of the population in financial services, to widely introduce the mechanism of support of investment projects, to ensure regional accessibility of banking services during the period of banking system reforming.
Heads of ministries, departments and local government bodies are prohibited from interfering with banks' activities, including those related to the management of entrepreneurial risks associated with the formation of the banks' loan portfolios and assets, the message said.
The Office of the General Prosecutor was instructed to strengthen supervision over the implementation of legislation regarding banks and banking activities in terms of preventing administrative interference in the banks' activities by government agencies.
The document approved the strategy of reforming the banking system of Uzbekistan for 2020-2025 and set targets for strategy implementation.
The targets include: increasing the share of the banks' assets without the government's share in the total assets of the banking system from the current 15 percent to 60 percent by 2025; and increasing the share of the banks' liabilities to the private sector in the total liabilities from the current 28 percent to 70 percent by the end of 2025.
In addition, it is planned to attract at least three foreign investors with appropriate experience, knowledge, and reputation by 2025, as well as to increase the share of non-bank credit institutions in the total volume of lending from the current 0.35 percent to four percent by 2025.
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