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Financial Ombudsman’s office of Armenia may become in charge of SME interests protection-CB
YEREVAN, October 9. /ARKA/. The Financial Ombudsman’s Office of Armenia may also become in charge of protecting interests of small and medium sized enterprises in future, Central Bank’s Board member Armenak Darbinyan said Tuesday.
“If today the Financial Ombudsman’s Office reviews only complaints of the citizens, it is quite possible that along with developing the structure will also deal with the issues of small and medium- sized businesses,” he said at the annual conference “Institute of
Financial Ombudsman targeted at enhancing trust of the citizens and increase of financial mediation.”
According to Darbinyan, this initiative is currently on the discussion table. “In future, depending on the structure’s capabilities, we will be able to speak about its role in this sector,” he added.
The Board member also noted that the regulator attaches great importance to the Financial Ombudsman’s Office as it has both, direct
and indirect impact on the financial stability in the republic.
“Functions of such institutions are especially important for such countries as Armenia, which demonstrated low trust to financial institutions in past,” Darbinyan highlighted.
On her side, financial ombudsman of Armenia Piruz Sargsyan, evaluating the operation of the institution, said the Office is completely ready to fulfill all the functions it has.
“When we just started working, we faced a lot of difficulties, as there was low trust not only from the society, but also the financial system,” she noted.
Financial Ombudsman’s Office of Armenia, established on January 24, 2009, is the first institution of such nature in the CIS. Its goal is to protect the interests and rights of the clients of banking system of Armenia, review their complaints, and enhance their trust towards financial system of the republic
Financial Ombudsman’s Office of Armenia helped the consumers to compensate nearly 76.4 million drams in the first quarter of 2012. The Office helped the consumers to compensate over 58 million drams in 2011, over 29 million and 26 million in 2010 and 2009 respectively. ($1 – 407.56 drams). -0-
13:06 09.10.2012
