POSB praises credit, movable security registries

10

THE People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) says the introduction of the Central Credit Registry and the Movable Security Registry has simplified its lending processes.
Speaking at the bank’s fourth annual general meeting last week, chief executive officer Admore Kandlela said the bank viewed the introduction of the registries as an opportunity to promote lending. He said the Central Credit Registry has significantly lessened the risk of information asymmetry.
“POSB sees the Central Credit Registry as an opportunity in its effort to boost lending to the underserved. The registry has addressed the issue of information asymmetry where we would not know who is who, but now we know that so and so has borrowed from that entity or has not and this makes it easier for us as a bank,” Kandlela said.
“The other driver that we are seeing in the small to medium enterprises space is the movable asset security, government has introduced the movable asset registry to introduce alternative forms of security, these are literary movable, these are registered through a web portal where individuals and companies can register their assets, this will also make things easier for us banks,” he added.
The central bank introduced the Central Credit Registry in 2016 to promote access to credit by supporting an effective information sharing mechanism among credit providers. The credit registry, which is housed at the reserve bank, serves as a data bank for banking institutions and licensed private credit reference bureaus.
Government gazetted the Movable Property Security Interests Act in July 2017 paving the way for the establishment of the Movable Collateral Registry. Government says it has completed numerous preparatory activities including the drafting of Movable Property Security Interests Regulations. The collateral registry is expected to be operational by the end of the first half of 2018.
The bank’s loans and advances as at December 31, 2017 were at $82,5 million after increasing from $61,57 million.
POSB, which is wholly owned by government, was named among other State enterprises that have been earmarked for privatisation. The bank will be partially privatised in a structure which will see government retain a 51 percent stake. Government, which has setup a technical committee that will look into the partial privatisation of the bank, says it is waiting for feedback from that committee to move forward with the restructuring exercise.
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw