Savings, loans sector expands

Business, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 27th January 2012

By ABIGAIL APINA
THE savings and loans industry is growing significantly, Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) governor Loi Bakani said.
There are 22 active savings and loans societies and their performance over the past five years had significantly improved.
Total assets increased from K637 million to K802 million, Bakani said.
The sector also increased its combined  savings increased from 279 million to K389 million, total loans jumped from K164 million to K215 million and memberships soared from 209,045 to 245,864 between 2007 and September last year.
He said it was important the societies continued to strive to increase the wealth for members.
However, corporate governance issues had been a major challenge in almost all the societies and continued to be a concern.
Improper practices within the management, fraud issues and mismanagement and improper lending practices were among these challenges, Bakani said..