The procedure for licensing banking activities is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On banks and banking activities”, as well as the Regulations on the procedure and conditions for admission to banking activities (registration No. 3252 of June 30, 2020).
1. The procedure for applying for a banking license - the main stages:
The procedure for licensing banks consists of 2 stages:
-
issuance by the Central Bank of a preliminary permit for the establishment of a bank;
- state registration of the bank with the simultaneous issuance of a license.
First stage:
An application for issuing a preliminary permit to establish a bank is reviewed by the Central Bank within 3 months from the date of submission of all documents. This period may be extended up to 4 months in cases where the Central Bank requests additional documents and information from the applicant.
Preliminary permit to establish a bank remains valid for a period not exceeding 6 months from the date of its issuance.
For processing an application for issuing a preliminary permit to establish a bank, a fee is charged in the amount of five times the basic settlement values.
Second phase:
The applicant must submit the documents required for the state registration of the bank and obtaining a license no later than 6 months after receiving a preliminary permit to establish a bank.
The decision on the state registration of the bank and the issuance of a license is made within a period not exceeding 1 month from the date of receipt of the application with all the necessary documents.
For the issuance of a license, a state fee is charged in the amount of 0.1 percent of the minimum amount of the bank's issued capital.
2. Capital requirements:
The minimum amount of the issued share capital of the bank should be 100 billion soums (approximately 9,0 million US dollars). The minimum amount of the issued share capital of the bank must be paid by the bank’s founders by the time of filing an application for state registration of a bank and issuance of a banking license.
The issued share capital of the bank is formed in the national currency and consists of funds contributed by the founders of the bank, or government securities.
It is not allowed to use for the formation of the issued share capital of the bank funds received on credit, secured, as well as other funds burdened with an obligation.
The total share of non-residents – individuals and legal entities that are not international financial institutions, foreign banks and other credit organizations, should not exceed 50 percent of the issued share capital of the bank.
II. REQUIREMENTS FOR OBTAINING A BANKING LICENSE
(INCLUDING DIGITAL BANKS)
To obtain a license, the following requirements and conditions must be met:
1) In the case of foreign banks – memorandum of understanding must be signed between the Central Bank and the competent authority of a foreign country, in which the central banks of the two states agree on mutual cooperation and exchange of information for the purpose of consolidated supervision in the banking sector;
2) The founders, their shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners must not be persons registered or residing in offshore states or territories;
3) The founders must have sound business reputation, the assessment of which takes into account the following:
absence of an outstanding or unexpunged conviction against the founder for crimes in the field of economics, against the management order or for crimes related to the financing of terrorism and the legalization of proceeds from crime;
lack of evidence that the founder is responsible for the actions that led the legal entity to bankruptcy or critical financial condition;
the absence of a court decision to deprive the founder of the right to engage in professional activities in the field of finance;
imposition of sanctions in the past by the competent supervisory authority to the founder that limit ownership in the issued share capital of a legal entity;
submission of false information to the Central Bank;
lack of evidence that the founder tried to avoid the assessment by the Central Bank;
4) Absence of excessive fragmentation in the ownership structure of the founder – legal entity of no more than three levels from the founder to the ultimate beneficial owner;
5) Founders, which are legal entities must operate for at least one year;
6) The legitimacy of the source of funds allocated for the acquisition of bank shares must be documented, and the flow of funds must be transparent;
7) Absence of suspicion about the existence of attempts to legalize the proceeds of crime, financing of terrorism and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the assumption of an increase in this risk after the alleged acquisition;
8) The founder must have sufficient financial solvency.
