Azerbaijan, Baku, March 13 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan is interested in establishment of private credit bureaus in the country, Head of the Centralized Credit Register (CCR) Service under the Central Bank Elchin Habibov said on Tuesday during a workshop "Automated tools, scoring and optimization of financing through a credit bureau".
"Private credit bureaus offering more various services and having greater coverage, are an important tool of financial infrastructure," said Habibov.
He noted the CBA has been working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the preparation of appropriate legal and regulatory framework for private credit bureaus in Azerbaijan.
During the primary phase private credit bureau in Azerbaijan, established under the IFC project to strengthen the financial infrastructure in Central Asia and Azerbaijan (ACAFI), will have five shareholders, IFC's project coordinator in Azerbaijan Teymur Heybatov told Trend earlier.
"Further it is planned to attract an international partner who will become not only a supplier of software, but also a shareholder of the bureau. It is planned that this international partner will become the operator of a credit bureau," Heybatov said.
He said today the bill regulating the activities of the private credit bureau in the country is under consideration by the CBA. The text of the memorandum of understanding to be signed by all potential shareholders has also been agreed and the business plan of the credit bureau has been finalized.
To create its own databases, the private credit bureau will need two or three years, and it is proposed to use base available in the Centralized Credit Registry inder the CBA, which has been functioning since 2005. For this purpose, today negotiations are conducted with the Central Bank on tariffs and other issues.
CCR began operating in March 2005. For a single query to the registry on the individual rate is 1.1 manat, the legal person - two manat. Credit registry does not pursue commercial objectives, and tariffs are introduced to cover administrative costs.
Consultant to create a CCR is Norway Registers Development and executor- RISK Company. Funding for establishment of a credit registry was provided by the World Bank loan to the "Financial Sector Technical Assistance" (FSTA).
The official exchange rate is 0.7863 AZN to $1 on March 13.