The Government approved changes to a number of legal acts that regulate the activity of nonbank lending organizations. The costs related to consumer loans repayable in up to two years will be limited and could not exceed the initial value of the loan. In the case of loans of at most 50,000 lei, the contract clauses could not be modified to increase the payment obligations of consumers, IPN reports.
It will also be banned signing loan refinancing contracts with the same debtor in case of overdue payments of over 30 days. The nonbank lending organizations will be banned from attracting reimbursable funds from the public, but will be allowed to take out subordinated loans, similar to the practice used in the banking sector. Also, the capital requirements for these organizations will be raised from 300,000 to 1 million lei. The nonbank lending organizations will be obliged to present reports at least to one credit bureau.
Minister of Finance Sergiu Pușcuța said that until 2018, the nonbank lending organizations hadn’t been subject to regulations. Given the size of nonbank lending, these changes will strengthen the lending sector, including by attenuating associated risks, and will contribute to more responsible lending to people.
The official noted that the assets of the about 160 nonbank lending organizations working in Moldova exceed 10 billion lei. The loan portfolio totals 9 billion lei, 7.5 billion lei of which are loans, while 1.5 billion lei was released under leasing agreements. 80% of all the loans were raised by private individuals. The nonbank lending sector accounts for about 3.5% of the GDP.
