Banking staff enhance their credit management
Banking staff enhance their credit management
Staff from the Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) and Savings and Credit Unions are attending a training course given by a Philippines finance expert to enhance their credit management skills.
The five-days of training was organised in Vientiane by BOL jointly with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and supported by MicroLead.
This training is a core activity under a project called Making Access to Finance More Inclusive for Poor People (MAFIPP).
The MAFIPP project is being implemented by BOL which aims to improve access by poor rural households to a variety of financial services, thus reducing poverty through improving rural household incomes.
The project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme, UNCDF, and the Australian Government.
Speaking at the start of the training Deputy Director General of Financial Institution Supervision Department Mr Visone Saysongkham explained that the MAFIPP working plan consists of many activities and building strength in financial institutions is part of the work of the project, which this training on credit management contributes to.
He said currently there are in total 21 savings and credit unions under the supervision of BOL and technical officials from the department conduct annual audits of microfinance institutions and savings and credit unions and they have found that some institutions as well as saving and credit unions have faced loan delinquency.
The credit delinquency rate has climbed to an annual average of 9 percent, which exceeds international standards, with 5 percent being the acceptable norm, Mr Visone added.
He said the main objective is to build strength on technical terms for savings and credit unions.
Managers and technical officials of savings and credit unions will learn how to manage credits correctly from a financial expert. They will be able to take lessons to use effectively and create benefits at their savings and credits unions.
The contribution of all participants is very necessary to achieve the objectives of this training to help development in this sector in line with the national development direction, Mr Visone said.
vientiane times
