What Banks Can Do for Small Entrepreneurs

Baku hosts a conference to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses.

According to the chairman of the Association of Banks of Azerbaijan (ABA) Zakir Nuriyev, he represents the sector is now in very straitened circumstances, and minimize the risks in this segment will be able to partially movable property registry, which provides for the creation of a draft law on secured transactions. It is no secret that businesses, especially small and medium, whose assets are not invested in real estate, find it difficult to attract credit resources. The register will allow for the registration of claims to movable property, when it acts as collateral for the loan.

"This law is important for the other participants in the financial market, but since the banks - the locomotive of the economy, they should be most interested in his decision", - he said.

In his view, we must also improve the information base of customers, adding to its critical data, which requires changes in the law "On personal data", "On Mortgage" and others.

Draft Law on Secured Transactions, prepared in 2008 and developed so far, aims to provide transparent rules for lenders to facilitate the use of movable property (inventory, equipment, receivables) as collateral, improving profitability and maintaining economic growth, as well as long-term rating sovereign issuer.

The bill provides for the creation of personal property registry. The register of movables will affect the number of loans, especially to small and medium-sized businesses.

Formation of the borrower's credit history started in 2005, after the creation of the CBA at the service of centralized credit register. The list covers the entire range of information on banks, non-bank credit institutions, borrowers, owners of large blocks of equity borrowers, loans and deposits on them.

ACAFI Project aims to improve the financial infrastructure in the Asian part of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Azerbaijan. To do this, create an effective system of credit information sharing and the introduction of professional training and certification in the field of risk management among employees of financial institutions.

This will help financial institutions to take a quick and correct credit decisions, increasing access to financial services for private consumers, in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in the regions.

Said three-year project is being implemented in cooperation with the Swiss government. --- 17D-