Not our job

Mar 06, 2013

Dear TBT,
The opinion piece “Easy credit loan slaves” (p.15) released in the The Baltic Times on February 21, 2013 may have created a misleading impression that the activities of the non-banking, or so-called fast credit lenders are under the supervision of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC).

To prevent any opportunity to mislead the readership, it should be emphasized that in Latvia the Consumer Rights Protection Center is the authority mandated to issue licenses and exercise supervision of the non-banking lending sector operations.

In the scope of supervision carried out by FCMC are the market participants that attract funding from an unlimited customer base and are committed in the future to meet their due obligations accordingly. Namely, under supervision of the FCMC are only licensed credit institutions (banks and credit unions), which operate both as deposit-takers and lenders, i.e. take risks and deal with customer money.

It is in the FCMC’s interests to put the lending market in order and to protect customer rights. Therefore, our experts have joined the new task group set up by the Ministry of Economics, aiming at stricter regulatory requirements in the non-bank lending industry segment, as we are convinced that order should be brought to the fast credit industry and mechanisms should be set for assessing the borrowers’ ability to repay their loans.

Best regards,
Laima Auza
Head of Communications Division
Financial and Capital Market Commission
 

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