“Standard & Poor's”: banking system shows a positive trend

Effective economic policy and structural reforms undertaken in the country, including the consistent and targeted reform of the banking system have provided a strong foundation for the stable development of banking and financial sector.

Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan jointly with the international rating agency “Standard & Poor's” held regular conference on receipt and confirmation of international ratings of commercial banks of Uzbekistan.

The event was attended by over three hundred participants from among leaders and senior officials of Central and commercial banks, representatives of international and local audit companies, cooperating with credit organizations.

This conference was held in the framework of execution of tasks defined by Resolution of the head of state dated May 6, 2015 "On measures to further improve the financial stability of commercial banks and development of their resource base."

During the conference “Standard & Poor's” analysts made presentations on development prospects of sovereign credit rating, key credit conditions that affect international banks, as well as assessment of the economic and industry risks of the banking system.

In addition, experts have given their own assessment of the role of banking system in development of Uzbekistan's economy, noting that high GDP growth rates maintained increase in volume of lending by banks the real economy. According to experts “Standard & Poor's” stable resource base of banking sector and a proper banking supervision are positive factors for economic growth.

Against the background of deterioration of rating indicators of some CIS countries the situation of Uzbekistan’s banking system in terms of exposure to economic risk is assessed as "stable". The indicators of republic’s banking system continued to remain at a high level and in a number of regulations exceed the requirements of international standards.

Thus, within the framework of measures to improve banks' capitalization level, as of April 1, 2016, total capital of the banking system increased in comparison with the corresponding period of last year by 23.2%. Over the past 5 years this figure increased by 2.4 times. Total assets of banks compared with corresponding period in 2015 increased by 25.4% and in the last 5 years - by 3.1 times. In turn, the total amount of deposits in commercial banks in the last 5 years has increased by 3.6 times. As of April 1, 2016, their volume increased compared with the corresponding period of 2015 by 27.6%. It should be noted that to date, all the banks of the republic have positive ratings from leading international rating agencies.

The experts also noted that adoption of President’s Resolution "On additional measures to attract foreign investors in joint-stock companies" dated December 21, 2015, creates favorable conditions for their active participation in corporate governance, radical reduction of state presence in economy at the expense of state-owned assets and stakes in commercial banks.

In the course of conference the participants noted that successive reforms in banking system and effective banking supervision implemented by the Central Bank, including continuous monitoring of quality of assets, loan portfolio diversification, indicators of capital adequacy and liquidity create necessary conditions for sustainable functioning of commercial banks of republic.

Experts noted that Central Bank constantly and timely improves banking supervision on the basis of international best practices in accordance with recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Experts stressed that conclusions and recommendations made during the conference will contribute to further deepening of reform and increase of banking system stability of the country, improvement of approaches and evaluation system of commercial banks on the basis of standards and performance indicators of leading rating agencies that allows to increase the level of organization of banking activities in accordance with international best practices.

Source: Jahonnews.uz