Activity of non-bank lending organisations to be regulated by new law

Chisinau, 12 October /MOLDPRES/- The government approved yesterday a draft law on non-banking credit organizations, which aims to develop the non-banking lending sector and financial leasing, including by preventing excessive risks in the system, increasing the access to financial resources of private people and legal entities, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

The draft provides the conditions for defending the rights and legitimate interests of creditors, donors, clients, as well as of founders, associates and shareholders of non-bank lending organizations.

The document regulates the peculiarities of formation and activity of non-bank credit organizations, including the types of basic professional activities. In particular, the procedure for issuing the preliminary notice is foreseen before the registration in the state register of legal entities and subsequently registration in the register of authorized non-bank lending organizations kept by the National Commission for the Financial Market (CNPF).

Another provision concerns the establishment of minimum capital requirement and equity. Thus, the relevant organizations will be required to hold and maintain their own capital at any time in a minimum 5 per cent in relation to the value of assets.

Also, the draft sets the requirements to administrators, as well as the obligation to conduct the audit of the annual financial statements by the audit firm or the individual entrepreneur auditor for non-bank lending organizations, whose book value of the assets exceeds 25 million lei at the end of the year.

Over 130 microfinance organizations are currently operating on the domestic market. During 2016, the assets held by them increased by about 30 per cent, with a maximum value of 4.7 billion lei.