Читать книгу The role of banks in the regional economic development of Uzbekistan: lessons from the German experience - Nodira Abdunazarova - Страница 2

The aim of this study is to investigate ways on strengthening the role of banks in Uzbekistan's regional economic development. The proposals have been based on the experience of Germany – a country whose financial system is commonly referred to as one of the most regionally oriented. However, a major problem with this kind of application is a gap between these countries' levels of financial development. Uzbekistan does not have such a long and successful tradition of a market based financial system as Germany has. Uzbek banks still need to develop credit technologies, improve corporate governance, as well as strengthen a reputation among their clients. In implementing these overall system reforms it is important to take into account the specifics of bank activities in local areas. So far, however, there has been little discussion about the regional aspects of Uzbek banking system. In this regard, the well-studied Germany's case reveals some important lessons and prerequisites for creating a framework that would support the locally-oriented banks in Uzbekistan.

The German decentralized and not purely laissez-faire banking system is a unique example how various public as well as private regional banks can successfully contribute to economic development of less developed regions and be strong competitors with large joint-stock banks. On the other side of the spectrum there is a country, namely Uzbekistan, with a dominance of state-owned bank branches outside the capital city. These branches often do not have enough information about borrowers in peripheral regions and tend to provide credit to safe customers with sufficient collateral. This leads to an increase of regional disparities in the levels of lending and financial service development. As a result, it may nullify policy efforts to encourage banks to become an important source of investment and hence, economic growth. Currently, Uzbekistan needs a roadmap to involve banks in the regional economic processes and to enhance performance of regional banks.

This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 describes the main features of Uzbekistan's economy and banking system. In this section, regional aspects of the Uzbek banks' performance are also considered. Section 2 provides the main characteristics of the German three-pillar banking system, namely: large private banks, savings banks, and cooperative banks. We focus on the policies and business strategies that these banks carry out in the German regions. Sections 3 and 4 present the German guarantee banks and development banks which help to overcome credit rationing, lack of collateral, as well as the short-termism of commercial credit. Section 5 concludes the paper and offers some policy recommendations for the future reforms in Uzbekistan.

Ultimately, despite the differences in the two countries' development, this paper supports the recommendations based on the German experience for stimulating various local financial institutions, namely cooperative banks, a Development Fund and a Guarantee Fund which help to increase the level of competition, overcome asymmetric information with respect to borrowers, and stimulate regional economic growth in Uzbekistan.