In February 2022 MicroFinanza Rating (Italy), an independent international rating company has completed an assessment of Bailyk Finance for compliance with the Customer Protection Principles. In his official letter of certification Joris Criesa, Head of MicroFinanza Rating’s Certification Committee wrote the following congratulations: “Gold level is the highest level of certification and means that Bailyk Finance meets the strictest principles of client protection, set out in the International Universal Standards of Social Performance Management. We would like to thank you for your support throughout this process and congratulate the team of Bailyk Finance on their Gold!” The certification was supported by international investor BlueOrchard.
“We were coming to this certification for several years – we involved experts, carried out self-diagnostics, updated procedures, changed processes and approaches to training. I should note that our goal was not only to get the certificate but thanks to many points of compliance, the implementation of best practices of social impact. The Company has many more interesting social projects in its plans”, – Chinara Moldazhanova, Chief Executive Officer of MCC “Baylyk Finance” said.
The Smart Campaign Customer Protection Principles is a global initiative aimed at implementing customer protection principles that include:
- Proper products and delivery channels;
- Prevention of over-indebtedness;
- Transparency;
- Responsible pricing:
- Fair and respectful treatment of customers, observance of ethical standards by personnel, and non-discrimination;
- Confidentiality of customer data;
- Complaint review and handling mechanism;
Currently, Bailyk Finance serves more than 50,000 customers in 50 offices across the country. Since its first days of operation, the Company has relied on a customer-oriented policy and has remained unwavering in its social mission. The Company strives to provide services in hard-to-reach areas, expanding its outreach. Every year the Company monitors the level of satisfaction of its customers, so as of April 2023 it was 98%.
In March 2021, the Company adopted and implemented an environmental risk management policy. This policy is implemented in the software, and when entering information about the business, sphere of activity, number of jobs, and other information, the system automatically determines the degree of risk of the borrower’s business in terms of adverse impact on the environment.
Within the framework of its activities, the Company pays great attention to the projects related to energy efficiency and conservation of energy resources. The Company has been a partner of the HMF IFC (World Bank Group) program for more than 7 years to finance the micro-housing sector and sustainable energy in Kyrgyzstan. The Company’s experience with HMF IFC project support in lending to projects in the field of housing improvement and energy efficiency is important for the sustainable development of the country, as it allows to reduce the costs of the population on energy resources in conditions of constantly rising tariffs, and also gives environmental effect in the form of reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere through the use of new green technologies. Special attention is given to financing projects for the purchase of equipment based on renewable energy sources.For this purpose, a separate loan product with a preferential interest rate was developed.
WOMEN SUPPORT PROGRAM
Company has relied on a client-oriented policy and has remained unshakable in its social mission. Bailyk Finance has a comprehensive program to support women, which includes three components:
- affordable funding;
- various women’s initiatives with the possibility of obtaining concessional funding or a grant;
- training women in financial literacy, business planning and taxes.
Within the framework of its activities over the past 5 years, the Company has been paying special attention to the issue of improving the financial literacy of the population of the country. To support this direction, the Company constantly implements projects on financial literacy for various target segments, including schoolchildren, students, and adults through essay and drawing contests, various events within the framework of the World Money Week, pieces of training, and other meetings for students and adults, and “Open Door Days” for customers.
You can read the MicroFinanza Rating report by clicking on this link:
Bailyk Finance, Kyrgyzstan, Output report, Feb22.
For reference:
The Customer Protection Principles certification was developed by the SMART Campaign, a global initiative group led by the Center for Financial Inclusion (ACCION) that promoted the implementation of customer protection practices into the basic culture and daily operations of microfinance institutions. In 2020, the Customer Protection Standards and their implementation management were transferred to the international non-profit associations SPTF and CERISE. The associations act as certification authorities and rely on licensed certifiers to carry out consumer protection missions. The independent international rating agency MFR has become one of the few in the world and the only one in Kyrgyzstan accredited by SPTF and CERISE to conduct certification on the Customer Protection Principles.
One of the Company’s top priorities is its employees. Today, the Company already employs more than 500 highly qualified specialists, and we aim to continue investing in their development and creating favorable working conditions. Taking care of employees is a key task, since employees are the main asset of the Company, directly interact with customers and form the reputation of the Company. For the Company, well-being in the family of employees is of great importance, since their efficiency in work is directly related to this.
Company today:
-provides financial support for marriage, childbirth, critical illness, as well as employees raising children alone or with children
with disabilities;
-annually insures employees whose work may be associated witha risk to health and life;
-provides access to the My Doctor application with the possibility of receiving a free online medical consultation 24/7;
-finances various sports initiatives for employees;
-pays great attention to the development and training of staff.
Employee Satisfaction Surveys
The company annually conducts a survey on employee engagement, loyalty and satisfaction. In 2022, satisfaction was measured by 5 metrics – pay, working conditions, interest in work, safety and comfort at work, so this indicator was 94%.
The personnel policy of the Company is aimed at ensuring social protection of employees and creating safe working conditions.
“Bailyk Finance” pays special attention to the social impact of its services on the lives of borrowers. To this end, in 2019 the Company repeatedly passed a social audit of its activities using the SPI4 tool, which identified areas for improvement of the Company’s management system through:
- The Universal Standards for Social Performance Management – a comprehensive guide to best practices developed by experts for the microfinance sector as a resource to help organizations achieve the dual goal: financial goal and social impact goal.
- Smart Campaign customer protection certification standards are the minimum standards that customers can expect at the time of entering into a transaction with a financial institution.
Every year the Company conducts a New Year’s Eve campaign to distribute humanitarian aid to our particularly needy customers. Candidates for the distribution of food gifts are determined by our employees, who are concerned about the welfare of their borrowers. The Company also actively participates in charity events to improve socially important projects: schools, hospitals, and park areas.
Our company contributes to improving financial literacy among the population. To this end, in 2019 the company held a series of TOT pieces of training to train its loan officers to provide effective financial literacy counseling to customers, who in turn trained 114 customers.
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