Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
The new law of Uzbekistan “On banks and banking activities” defines the minimum authorized capital of banks in the amount of $ 10.5 million, Trend reports citing Uzbek media.
According to the current version of the document, it is determined by the Central Bank.
The Senate of the Parliament of Uzbekistan at the 23rd plenary meeting on Oct. 11 approved the new version of the law.
The list of financial operations conducted by banks is supplemented by new types of services, including trust management of property and assets, purchase and sale of refined precious metals, and operations with derivative financial instruments. The bank is entitled to outsource certain types of services and operations after obtaining permission from the Central Bank.
To protect creditors and depositors, the law lists activities that are prohibited or restricted for banks. So, banks are not entitled to directly engage in production, trade and insurance activities.
Furthermore, the law defines additional requirements for foreign founders. There are no restrictions for the stability of high-quality investments, namely, the inflow of not only financial resources, but also international experience and knowledge in the field of banking in the country and for non-residents who are banks and financial organizations with an investment rating.
For other non-residents, more stringent conditions are established in the form of minimum ratings of a non-resident and his country, as well as restrictions on their shares in banks of Uzbekistan to 50 percent.
The law introduces the concept of banking groups as associations of financial institutions in which the main bank directly or indirectly owns at least 25 percent of the shares of other banks, as well as more than 50 percent of the authorized capital of a financial institution. The concept of a systemically significant bank is also introduced - a bank on whose activity the stability of the banking system depends.
The document also indicates prudential ratios, which include capital adequacy ratios, maximum risk per borrower or a group of related borrowers, the maximum size of large credit risks and investments, concentration ratios by sectors, liquidity ratios and others.
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