Kazakh banks to be prohibited from giving loans to problem borrowers - billThe Majilis, the lower chamber of Kazakhstan’s parliament, approved on Wednesday in the first reading the Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan Aimed to Minimize Risks Associated with Lending Activities and to Protect the Rights of Borrowers.“In order to prevent the debt burden of citizens that already have problem loans from increasing further, a ban will be imposed on the provision of unsecured consumer loans to citizens that have 90+ days overdue loans,” said Unzila Shapak, a member of the Majilis.Banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs) will not be allowed to set the monthly loan payment above half the borrower’s official income.According to the amendments, the right to recover debts can be transferred to a collection agency not earlier than 24 months after the borrower started failing to repay their debt.The amendments will also limit the maximum value of a retail loan to 5 million tenge for banks and 2 million tenge for MFOs.The bill bans the eviction of families with underage children during the heating season, while the existing law only prohibits the eviction of families if they belong to the socially vulnerable group of the population and the house or apartment they reside in is their only residential property.In order to increase the protection of citizens from fraudsters, the individuals will now be able to sign a statement whereby they voluntarily refuse to receive any loans, and the banks and microfinance organizations will not be allowed to provide loans to such individuals.According to the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market, as many as 8,800 fictitious loans for a total value of 9.8 billion tenge were issued by the bank over the past two years, and 82% of these loans were issued through the banks’ mobile applications.As at January 1, 2024 as many as 8.5 million citizens of Kazakhstan were in debt to financial organizations for a total amount of 19 trillion tenge, of which 8.2 million citizens had unsecured consumer loans totaling 10 trillion tenge in value, Shapak said. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX