VP – contributor and participant of the FINRA Project in BiH

The USAID / BiH Financial Sector Reform Activity (FINRA) project, funded by USAID / BiH, is designed to help the efforts to bring financial supervision in Bosnia and Herzegovina in line with EU standards. This important project coordinates on close issues with the programs and projects of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), and its main components include assistance in the areas of banking supervision and deposit insurance, central banking and the quality of government spending.

On this occasion, employees of the USAID Financial Sector Reform Project in BiH worked on the NPL (non-performing loans) study, which resulted in a report entitled “Improvement of the system for resolving non-performing loans in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Some of the key findings of the study showed that the percentage of non-performing loans in BiH decreased significantly compared to the peak in mid-2010, as a result of increased banking supervision, better management of banks’ credit risk and NPLs, and economic growth. However, the main shortcomings in this area are certainly the lack of an active market for the sale and secondary trading of NPLs in BiH, as well as the inefficient regulatory and judicial system for enforcement in BiH.

As contributors in the preparation of the entire study, which includes recommendations for further financial growth and development, the law firm “Vukovic and Partners”, together with the company specialized in servicing and purchase of receivables “ODM Collections doo”, participated in the panel and presentation of the study. In addition, the panel was attended by senior representatives of the IMF, the USAID Mission in BiH, as well as the Banking Agency in BiH.