The Governor of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Dr. John Mangudya has disclosed that the central bank will
by the end of this year go live with Bsystems online Collateral Registry
portal.
Following a successful
tender process, Ghana’s Bsystems is working closely with officials of the Zimbabwe
Central Bank to fully operationalize the collateral registry system.
A collateral registry is a publicly available
database of interests in or ownership of movable assets allowing borrowers to
prove their creditworthiness and potential lenders to access their ranking
priority in potential claims against particular collateral.
Movable collateral that can be used as security
includes equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, farm products, household
items and bank accounts.
According to Dr. Mangudya, the deployment of
the collateral registry system was to complete during the first half of 2021
while full operations are expected to commence before the end of the year.
The setting up of the collateral registry is
also expected to spur micro-credit growth and enhance credit risk management in
the microfinance sector.
According to the Zimbabwe Association of
Micro-finance Institutions (ZAMF), the credit for only MFI portfolio as of
December 31, 2020, had outstanding loans amounting to $1,2 billion compared
with $651 million as of September 30, 2020.
The association noted that a large percentage
of the portfolio was made up of consumption and business loans amounting to
$464 million and $385 million respectively.
"The bulk of the consumption loans during
the period are reflective of the family needs for basic requirements."
The deposit-taking MFIs, who are members of
ZAMFI, reported a total loan book of 155 million.
According to Dr. Mangudya, the enhanced credit
referencing environment has improved credit risk management in the sector by
providing timeous and reliable credit information.
"As a result, the Credit Registry recorded
a significant increase in inquiries from 813,298 as at June 30, 202,1 to
1,317,853 as at June 30, 2021," he said.
In the 2021 mid-term monetary policy statement,
the Governor noted that the Credit Registry held over 1,45 million records, of
which 524,342 were active loan accounts.
He said individual records represented 98
percent of the active loan records in the Credit Registry and registered
subscribers currently accessing the Registry were 209 as of 30 June 2021.
Meanwhile, total banking sector loans and
advances increased by 73,27 percent from $82,41 billion as of December 31, 2020
to $142,79 billion as of June 30, 2021.
By: Kanto Okanta
