Financial services of business entities, their tasks and functions

The main directions of development of

the financial services of business.

As long as one looks mainly or even exclusively at industrialized countries’ financial systems, the focus on GDP growth that characterizes most of the relevant literature is appropriate. But when one looks at the so-called developing countries, as we do in this section, it is definitely too narrow. Development is more than growth. It is also concerned with the distribution of wealth, income and economic opportunities. Moreover, development also has to do with the structure of societies and political systems. Correspondingly, development policy aims at achieving a more equitable distribution of income and opportunities and creating open and stable economic, social and political systems. As we argue in this section, the financial system and its quality are a crucial determinant of development in this broad sense. How are finance and development related? The first link is that the financial sectors of most developing countries are underdeveloped. Lack of financial development reflects general underdevelopment and is both a consequence and a cause of general underdevelopment.

A low level of financial development shows up in a lack of financial institutions, in inefficiency and instability of those institutions that exist and in a financial sector that does not provide services to a large part of the economically active population. In many developing countries not only the really poor but also middle class business people do not get bank loans. In view of the considerable benefits that a country may be able to gain from having a good financial infrastructure one may wonder why many financial systems are so underdeveloped. This has three reasons.

One is a misguided policy of “financial repression” that has its roots in the false notion that finance is not important and that has seriously restrained the emergence of banks and financial markets. The second reason was that those who held power used and “abused” the financial sector for their own enrichment. The third reason was, and still is, that it is simply very difficult to create a healthy financial sector in inhospitable environments.

Finance has to overcome pervasive information and incentive problems that are even stronger in developing countries than in advanced countries with well-functioning legal systems. There is also a close connection between financial systems and development policy. For many years, development finance consisted in simply channeling capital from developed to developing countries.

For a long time after World War II, this policy consisted in transferring large volumes of capital to fund governments and big infrastructure and industrial projects. Then, after 1973, policies changed. The transfer of capital was redirected to specific target groups of poor people that policy makers in the donor countries considered as needy and worthy of external support. These target group-oriented capital transfers deliberately avoided using the formal financial sector as a conduit because development experts were convinced that existing commercial and development banks were neither willing nor able to reach poor However, development policy did not always treat finance as synonymous with capital.

A third phase of development finance policy took a completely different perspective and “detected” that finance can also be understood in the sense of financial institutions and markets. It whole-heartedly subscribed to the new learning of Shaw (1973) and McKinnon (1973) that instead of financial repression, liberalization and deregulation of the financial sector were called for. Some experts expected that banks that were set free to pursue their own financial interests would soon start to extend loans to the formerly neglected clients and that they would do this wisely. However, this expectation was frustrated. Instead of opening up to a new clientele, many financial institutions took on too much risk and entire financial sectors became highly instable and collapsed under the burden of bad loans (Diaz-Alejandro, 1995). What the ultra-libertarian policy makers had overlooked was exactly what Stiglitz (1988) had taught for years: finance is shaped by serious information and incentive problems, and therefore financial systems must be regulated and guided by policies that limit risk-taking. This negative experience finally paved the way for a new policy approach that aims at strengthening financial systems by building up financial institutions that are at the same time financially viable and socially relevant. Recent experience suggests that this latest development policy approach, which considers finance in a broad sense and focuses on financial systems, on institution building and incentive design may finally be successful.

Trends in the economy of Uzbekistan provide the basis for expanding investment in the real economy and require accelerating the growth rate of the Bank's resource base.

The main directions of attracting funds and increasing the resource base:

- increasing the bank's capital by increasing profits and raising funds through the issue of shares;

- attraction and maintenance at a stable level of funds of legal entities and individuals;

- gradual transition from short-term to long-term resources by attracting deposits of legal entities with a view to consolidate part of corporate clients' funds.

Specific volumes, instruments, terms of attraction/placement and schemes of operations are determined on the basis of the current needs of the Bank for replenishment/use of the resource base, as well as taking into account the financial markets and the results of a comparative analysis of possible options for attracting. Capitalization of the Bank is a priority strategic task, the solution of which will ensure the further development of the Bank and the strengthening of its financial potential. The implementation of the Bank's capital increase program will allow to increase the volume of active operations while complying with the mandatory economic standards of the Central Bank and in turn will provide additional income for the Bank to form and reinvest profits.

At the same time, the main tools used by the Bank to allocate resources are:

- commercial lending to legal entities;

- placement of funds in the interbank deposit market;

- conducting operations with securities.

As part of its asset management strategy, the Bank will strive to maintain a sufficient level of liquidity, balance the structure of the Bank's assets and liabilities by terms and types of currencies, and ensure the required level of diversification by industry, clients and investment. The main objectives of the Bank's development for 2017:

- strengthening of the bank's position in the financial services market;

- build-up of the resource base, by attracting funds from new customers and stimulating the growth of funds in the accounts of legal entities and individuals;

- increase in the capital of the Bank, which ensures the dynamics of growth in business volumes;

- strengthening positions in regional markets, improving infrastructure, increasing the efficiency of the network of branches;

- improvement of customer service, combining standard technologies with an individual approach to each client;

- development of the client base and attraction to the Bank of the greatest possible number of first-class clients with the consolidation of long-term mutually beneficial cooperation;

- improvement of the product range aimed at building long-term relationships with customers;

- development of partnerships with leading financial institutions to provide customers with more opportunities to choose high-quality banking products;

- ensuring stability and sustainability in relation to existing and potential risks, by supporting the effective operation of a full-featured risk management system that includes an internal control system;

- qualitative improvement of business processes on the basis of automation and development of information technologies;

- improving the productivity, efficiency and quality of the Bank's staff.

At the broadest level, we can distinguish among the following development outcomes where DFIs report direct impacts:

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