A bill to supplement the Law on Savings and Loan Associations was approved by the Cabinet two days ago. Aurelia Doina, a member of the Administration Board of the National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM), said the proposed changes will better protect the rights and interests of depositors of savings and loan associations. The range of non-banking financial services in rural areas, where these associations works, will be extended, IPN reports.
The bill envisions the creation of a guarantee fund for deposits made at savings and loan associations. The goal is to compensate the depositors-private individuals in case of forced or voluntary liquidation of savings and loan associations or of their insolvency. The contributions to the fund will be set by the NCFM for maintaining 1.0% of the balance of deposits at savings and loan associations at the end of each term. For some of the associations, the NCFM can set special contributions, depending on risk, so as to guarantee the accepted deposits.
The payments will be made within three months of the liquidation and will represent at most 15,000 lei for a depositor, which is about 39% of the average value of a deposit in 2015. Aurelia Doina said the deposits at savings and loan associations in the middle of 2016 came to 241.2 million lei.
The associations will also provide more non-banking financial services. “Based on the European and international practice, we suggested that the savings and loan associations should offer such services as currency exchange and cash transfers for the rural population, but we met with categorical resistance on the part of particular authorities. On the other hand, these services are needed in villages. A working group should be set up to analyze the situation so as to identify the best solutions for these associations and, in particular, for the rural population,” stated Aurelia Doina.
In Moldova there are 287 savings and loan associations with 125,000 members.
