Impact Stories

Latin America: Strengthening and Harmonizing Credit Reporting Systems

Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos (CEMLA), with the support of the World Bank, requested FIRST’s assistance in 2008 to assess credit reporting systems (CRS) in selected member countries. The initiative was named the Western Hemisphere Credit Reporting Initiative (WHCRI) involving 7 countries: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay. FIRST was requested to support: The development of a common assessment methodology for CRSc in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Assessment of (using the common assessment methodology developed) the CRSs in...

Latin America Regional

Financial and Information Infrastructures

Peru: Factoring Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises

Like many emerging markets, access to finance is a pressing need for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Peru. The World Bank worked with the Peruvian authorities under a FIRST-funded project to design a factoring scheme that uses a financial structure and a technology platform to purchase accounts receivable from the large companies that supply many SMEs. Doing so frees up working capital that the suppliers can use to extend more credit to SMEs, helping to solve the access to finance problem. It also benefits the suppliers and other stakeholders. Due to the close relationships between...

Peru

Leasing and Factoring

Vietnam: Stabilizing Investments Funds Through Better Regulation and Supervision

This project provided assistance to the State Securities Commission (SSC) for the development of the regulatory framework for supervising investment funds . As a direct result of the project, the SSC issued 3 core regulations. It was of significant value that the legal reform aspect was one strategic component of a highly-integrated TA delivery, which followed soon after the authorities’ preparation and adoption of the 2006 Securities Act. As such, the project was accompanied by strong ownership throughout by the SSC, which was key to its successful outcomes. Another component of the overall...

Vietnam

Capital Markets

Azerbaijan: Systemic Risk Response Framework

The Financial Sector Assessment for Azerbaijan (FSAP), completed in 2004, identified many areas for improvement, one of which was the implementation of a comprehensive and well-sequenced program to ensure soundness of financial institutions. One of the FSAP findings was the weak financial conditions of some banks in the country, which increase the overall vulnerability of the banking sector. That is why the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) expressed an interest in developing a tool to test the health of the country’s banking system, which also would help to identify weaknesses in the CBA's...

Azerbaijan

Macroprudential, Financial Safety Net & Crisis Preparedness

East Caribbean: Strengthening Credit Union Regulation and Supervision

This project, which was completed in 2007, provided technical assistance to strengthen the self-regulatory practices among Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU) members, which manage 70% of the assets of the sub-region: strengthening the regulatory framework and self-regulatory prudential practices throughout the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) system. Given the systemically important role played by the Caribbean credit unions, the OECS member countries decided in August 1972 to establish a regional organization for credit unions and other co-operatives as the...

East Caribbean Regional

Banking

Sri Lanka: Training of the Foreign Exchange Dealers

The Government of Sri Lanka set out to make its financial sector a vibrant profit centre and a financial hub in the region. Proposed liberation and opening of the capital markets mandated the relaxation of the capital account. This in turn meant that Sri Lanka’s local financial sector professionals should be geared to face international challenges. The project, which was conceptualized in November 2003, aimed to develop the capacity of participants in Sri Lanka’s forex market by providing them with internationally recognised training. There were approximately 300 dealers engaged in the...

Sri Lanka

Capital Markets

Kyrgyz Republic: Assistance on the Privatization of the Kairat Bank

FIRST does not usually get involved in single entity privatizations but in this instance it was agreed that the project would be breaking new ground (no bank privatizations had taken place and expertise in the process was lacking) and the transaction would therefore inform policy and facilitate smoother locally handled privatizations in the future. The Kyrgyz FSAP recommended the privatization of Kairat Bank, as the solution to the government’s resolution plan for that bank. The financial sector would be best enhanced by privatization to a strategic investor, who can provide significant...

Kyrgyz Republic

Banking

Egypt: Strengthening Banking Supervision

This project was initiated by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in 2003, at a time when the financial sector in Egypt was dominated by the banking system, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the financial system’s assets. The banking system was comprised of 57 banks, and this included 28 commercial banks of which, four were state-owned, 26 were investment banks (11 joint venture banks and 15 branches of foreign banks), and three were specialized banks. The banking sector was dominated by state owned commercial banks, which accounted for more than 51 percent of the banking system’s...

Egypt

Banking

Pakistan: Development of Banking Sector Uniform Chart of Accounts

In 2003, commercial banks were by far the major players in the Pakistani financial sector and they varied considerably in sophistication of systems and procedures, bookkeeping and accounting practices. Most banks had unique systems and procedures for compilation of information for statutory reporting to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and for preparation of their annual financial statements. Consequently, significant issues with regard to credibility and quality of data reported in statutory returns and annual financial statements had arisen. The standardization of the process for...

Pakistan

Banking

Kazakhstan: Reinsurance Regulation

FIRST Initiative helped Kazakhstan’s insurance regulator develop an appropriate earthquake risk model that allowed the authority to issue provision regulations consistent with that risk. As a result of a US$ 240,000 project, an estimated 250,000 people today, and many more in generations to come, benefited from having sound earthquake insurance coverage. Kazakhstan, in particular the southern part of the country including the area around the main city Almaty, is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The city was nearly completely leveled by the 1911 earthquake and since no new tremor of such...

Kazakhstan

Insurance