OREANDA-NEWS. The Bank of Russia Expert Council on Microfinance and Credit Cooperation discussed at its regular meeting the issue of establishing a unified system of savings of members of credit consumer cooperatives (CCC).

The meeting participants considered the merger of compensation funds of self-regulated organisations of credit cooperatives into a single cash fund to guarantee personal savings of private shareholders. The Council took a decision to continue discussing the parameters of the system of savings belonging to CCC members.

The experts approved the Bank of Russia Draft Ordinance 'On the Criteria of Defining Microfinance Organisations Providing Microloans to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (Microfinance Organisations of Business Financing'). This Draft Ordinance envisages that MFOs are recognised as such microfinance organisations provided the following conditions are simultaneously met:
- a number of microloan agreements signed with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs over the reporting period accounts for at least 70% of the total number of microloan agreements signed over this period;
- a volume of microloans granted to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs over the reporting period accounts for at least 75% of the total volume of microloans granted over this period.

The Council members also discussed other crucial issues on the development of microfinance market and credit cooperation.