Financial literacy, collateral vital to increase loan portfolios: Official

THE National Development Bank Kokopo branch manager Karen Joseph says financial illiteracy and collateral is needed to increase loan portfolios and therefore, revenue to the bank.
He said this during a visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Commerce and Industry Sam Basil and other ministers to the bank recently. Joseph said loan application requirements, financial illiteracy and a lack of collateral was a major reason for clients to bypass NDB in favour of savings and loans societies.
Basil noted the importance of financial literacy and said he would help drive it with a view also to reducing application information requirements to pertinent personal and business information.
Basil was accompanied by Lands and Physical Planning Minister John Rosso, National Planning Minister Rainbo Paita and host Gazelle MP and Health Minister Jelta Wong.
Rosso said issues related to use of plantation land as collateral indicated that his department would expedite registrations of incorporated land groups to help with communally-owned or cooperative society-owned land.
He said plantation land had thus far not been appreciated as collateral in these cooperative society and communally owned land.
In the light of loan write-offs by NDB including over K20 million in 2019, the bank said there were no loan write-offs over the last two years by NDB Kokopo.
Wong invited his fellow National Executive Council colleagues for a two-day visit of pertinent institutions and business enterprises in his district which began with a courtesy call on East New Britain Governor Nakikus Konga last week.