DUSHANBE, April 8, 2010, Asia-Plus — In the beginning of April 2010, representatives of the Parliament of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Credit Information Bureau of Tajikistan, National Banks, as well as financial institutions, of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, and Credit Information Bureau Ishenim left to Morocco to study credit information sharing practices, according to the IFC Dushanbe Office.
The tour is organized by the IFCAzerbaijan-Central Asia Financial Markets Infrastructure Advisory Services Project that is funded by the Swiss Government through the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) under its development assistance program to develop private sector and foster economic growth in Central Asia and Azerbaijan through improving the financial infrastructure of the region. This initiative is co-funded by the Regional Programme on Support to Microfinance Sectors in Central Asia of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).
The visit to Morocco is initiated in order to facilitate stronger collaboration among credit bureaus, financial institutions, and financial authorities in collecting data required for financial supervision and credit information exchange in the countries. The main goal of the tour is for the delegates to bring back home new ideas and know-how to further improve the credit information sharing practices in their respective countries.
During the study tour the participants will study best practices and experiences of credit information sharing and financial supervision in Morocco. The program of the tour also includes a roundtable on the lessons and practices learnt and how those could be applied to resolve current credit information sharing issues in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.
Well-developed and effective credit information sharing systems are critical to expanding access to credit for both individuals and small businesses. Credit bureaus allow financial institutions to get timely, credible, and objective information on borrowers, which, in its turn, allow financial institutions to reduce loan processing time and credit defaults. This further strengthens the overall financial system’s stability by increasing its resilience and boosting confidence in the system.
