Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Gender Policy Implementation by Participating Commercial Banks

Since 2014, five pCBs have endorsed gender policies beyond adB project Gaps: Ipak Yuli Bank in 2014, Hamkor Bank in 2015, the National Bank of Uzbekistan in 2015, Qishloq Qurilish Bank in 2015, and Ipoteka Bank in 2017. the main purpose of a corporate gender policy is
to ensure women and men’s access to financial services and balance women’s and men’s representation and participation in bank management. Gender policies are based on norms set by the international community and also on the Constitution of Uzbekistan. the objectives and tasks outlined in corporate gender policies are mandatory for all bank divisions.
In accordance with the key objectives, gender policies comprise tasks related to human resource and client-oriented policies. Box 7 provides a more detailed description of the outcomes related to the human resources segment of the pCBs’ gender policies.



Box 7: Outcomes of Human resources Gender Policy in Participating Commercial Banks
the dynamics related to the human resources part of gender policy implementation are diverse. Gender balances in the ratio of total bank employees, which range from 51% to 57% (Ipak Juli Bank, National Bank of Uzbekistan, Ipoteka Bank) to 20% (Hamkor Bank) have remained almost the same over the last 3 years.
In 2017, the number of women managers in the central apparatus was highest in the National Bank of Uzbekistan (24%) and lowest (6%) in Ipoteka Bank. Gender balance in management, including regional branches, ranged from 12% (National Bank of Uzbekistan) to 23% (Ipak Juli Bank).
the central management, boards, and heads of regional branches remain male-dominated. to improve this situation, the participating national banks (pCBs) (Hamkor Bank and Ipak Juli Bank) introduced special measures and quotas during the adoption of the banks gender policy.^a
all pCBs promote female participation in professional training, which is crucial to for career development. the percentage of female employees receiving professional training or re-training has increased steadily, from 14% in 2014 (Hamkor Bank) to 31% in 2017 (Hamkor Bank and Ipak Juli Bank).^b
a Special measures under the auspices of gender policy implementation include 20% of bank supervisory boards being women; 30% of management boards being women; 20% of regional branch managers being women; 40% of heads of structural subdivisions being women; 50% of employees being women; 25% of department staffs being women; and enhanced career opportunities for female employees. Revision of personnel-related human resources policies to ensure gender sensitivity aims to encourage recruitment of female credit officers. trainings for all employees on the revised policies and procedures for new banking products conducted annually with the focus on women clients (Hamkor Bank).
^b In Ipak Yuli Bank, there is gender parity in board representation. Of two board members, one is a woman.

Gender analysis of female clientele dynamics conducted by some pCBs showed virtually no outstanding loans among female borrowers. that argument produced a groundbreaking effect in bank strategy and resulted in dramatically improved approaches to serving female clients.

44 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment Update

Hamkor Bank and Ipak Yuli Bank are leaders in mainstreaming gender in the client-related segment of their corporate gender policy, and the ratio of loans to female borrowers in their total credit portfolio has increased, from 17% in 2014 to 42% in 2017.¹³⁰ Box 8 highlights some good practices related to pCBs’ client-oriented gender policy.

Box 8: Outcomes of Clientele-Oriented Gender Policy in Participating Commercial Banks
the marketing departments at Hamkor Bank and Ipak Yuli Bank conduct annual opinion polls, which include female borrowers, related to customer satisfaction with bank services. all
participating commercial banks regularly collect, maintain, and analyze sex-disaggregated data and up to eight other parameters.
diverse banking products have been developed for clients, including females (e.g., equipment leasing, term deposits, flexible consumer loans, loans for urban and rural entrepreneurs, cross trades, savings deposits, safety deposit boxes, transfers, and foreign exchange operations).
Special procedures for issuing loans have been developed, and the participating commercial banks have introduced incentive schemes, based on the number of micro-loans for female-led businesses.
Micro-credit officers have become agents of female micro, small, and medium enterprise development: they visit potential and actual clients, assist in preparing business plans and packaging loan documents, and advise on taxes and other reporting formats and modalities.^a
a adB field survey in 2017 in preparation for this CGa update. Focus group discussions and interviews were held with Hamkor Bank and Ipak Yuli Bank loan borrowers in Namangan and andijan regions.

7.