Final report : Bolivia strengthening financial markets project

The project provided assistance to more than 35 private businesses -- brokers, banks, and firms with potential to participate in the financial sector. Project accomplishments include expanded financial markets, improved bank solvency, wider policy dialogue on structural reform, and successful investment promotion efforts. The Programa de Capacitacion Financiera (PROCAF), a new organization started with project support, developed the capacity to provide training for financial institutions. To date, PROCAF has conducted 37 courses for 1,100 persons, including employees of all Bolivian private commercial banks and of 11 other organizations. The Asociacion de Bancos de Bolivia (ASOBAN) has substantially strengthened its management by hiring a professional banker as its executive secretary and a lawyer to head its legal unit. Services have been expanded to include (1) a central information system to handle customer records, (2) a headquarters from which PROCAF may operate, (3) plans to operate the check-clearing facility currently run by the Central Bank and use the surplus funds generated to finance other services for the banking sector, and (4) a fund to finance TA for member banks. The project supported establishment of a securities exchange system in 11/89. Project-trained professional brokers currently trade seven financial instruments (Central Bank certificates of deposit and several commercial paper and debt instruments) through the Bolsa Boliviana de Valores (BBV, or La Paz Securities Exchange). Total amount traded from 11/89-9/92 was approximately $1.1 billion. Seventeen brokerage firms have been authorized by the Comision Nacional de Valores (CNV) to operate on the BBV, and more than 100 persons have been trained in securities markets. In addition, four brokerage firms trade on the Santa Cruz Securities Exchange, established in 8/91. Project support has encouraged ongoing discussion and analysis of private and financial sector issues by public and private sector leaders, and business associations, most notably the Confederacion de Empresarios Privados de Bolivia (CEPB -- an association of Bolivian private enterprises), have become effective private sector representatives at the national or regional level. Some associations have reformed their bylaws to ensure more democratic decisionmaking; two have successfully carried out investment promotion activities.