Amendments and supplements to banking laws

On June 24, 2020, at the regular meeting of the first session of Majlisi namoyandagon of Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, on 6^th convocation, the draft Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On amendments and supplements to the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan" On banking activities" was considered. The draft was proposed in order to fulfill paragraph 66 of the Action Plan for implementation of instructions and orders of President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Leader of Nation, honorable Emomali Rahmon, announced on May 10, 2019 during his meeting with employees of financial, tax, customs, investment authorities and banks of the republic. It should be noted that during this meeting, the problems of the country's banking system and the need to take urgent measures to eliminate the existing shortcomings were pointed out.

The purpose of approval of proposed draft is to strengthen the system of control over the activities of banks and to ensure the compliance of its standards with current legislation, taking into account the best world practice.

To this end, in order to eliminate the existing shortcomings and strengthen banking supervision, 21 articles were revised in this draft law, 3 articles were set out in the new wording and 1 new article was added.

The experience of recent years has shown that one of the reasons for the financial collapse of a number of problem banks and liquidation of some micro lending institutions is the joint activities of close relatives in leadership positions. In this regard, in order to prevent joint activities of close relatives in credit institutions and to prevent operational risks in banking operations, the draft law was supplemented with a new article. According to this article, the joint activities of persons who have close family ties in positions of a member of the Supervisory Board, chairman (his deputies), board member, chief auditor, chief accountant or cashier of a credit institution as well as joint work of persons who have close family ties whose work is related to mutual subordination and direct control is prohibited.

Also, in the draft law, in order to prevent and minimize the risks associated with effected transactions with related, affiliated persons, the provisions on consolidated supervision of the activities of credit institutions were revised taking into account their affiliated, related and subsidiary companies.

In terms of corporate governance of credit institutions, the powers of the Supervisory Board, requirements for a member of the Board, powers and obligations of the Audit Committee, the procedure for acquiring a preferential share and investments of credit institutions in other legal entities in accordance with international standards were also revised.

The amendments to the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On amendments and supplements to the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan" On Banking Activity "will contribute to the development of banking system, increasing public confidence in the banking system and strengthening the responsibility of credit institutions and attracting domestic and foreign capital.

When considering the draft Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On amendments and supplements to the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan" On payment services and payment system ", it was noted that this draft was developed in order to fulfill the Plan of the Republic of Tajikistan to eliminate deficiencies in technical compliance and increase the efficiency of the AML/CTF system by the Permanent Interdepartmental Commission on AML/CTF and Prevention of Mass Destruction Weapons Proliferation (AML/CFT/PMDWP).

Taking into account the FATF recommendations, these amendments are aimed at strengthening the banking system of the Republic of Tajikistan in the area of AML /CFT/ PMDWP and bringing the legislation in line with the requirements of the FATF recommendation.

The draft law was supplemented with the Article 20¹. The provisions of this article create conditions for ensuring healthy competition in the financial system, as well as for preventing restrictions on competitive activity, minimizing risk concentration and preventing the abuse of a dominant position in the services market, supplying software and hardware and ensuring financial stability in payment services market.

It should be noted that the amendments can ensure the transparent functioning of banking system and attracting the largest volume of foreign capital to the country's economy.

After discussion, the draft laws were approved at the regular meeting of the first session of Majlisi Namoyandagon of Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, 6^th convocation.

Press Division