FORUS Bank

Mission:

The Bank’s Mission is to provide access to high quality banking services for individuals and growing businesses often excluded from mainstream banking services.

Background and Main Challenges:

CJSC FORUS Bank (Closed Joint-Stock Company “Fora – Opportunity Russian Bank”) is a bank for crediting micro and small businesses. The founder of the bank is FORA Fund for Small Business Support, Russia’s largest microfinance organization. FORUS Bank's Head Office is located in Nizhny Novgorod, ... Read more

Address:

117 Maxim Gorky

Nizhni Novgorod

603000

Russia

Phone:

7-831-257-85-40

Fax:

7-8312/78-43-10/20/30

Email:

info [at] forafund [dot] ru

Website:

www.forusbank.ru

Main Funding Sources:

Loans

Shareholder Capital

Products and Services:

Loans

Voluntary Savings

Fund Transfer Services

Products:

Group and individual loans

Looking for (Investment Types):

Loans in Local Currency

Donations

Loans in US$

Loans in EUR

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Jan 1 1993

FYE:

31-Dec

Current Legal Status:

Bank

Regulated:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
+ Poverty targets
No specific poverty target
+ Governance
Has trained members of its board on social performance management
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises
SME loans
+ Savings products offered
Checking accounts
Voluntary savings accounts
Fixed term deposits
+ Compulsory insurance products required
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
Debit/credit card
Remittances services
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
+ Education services offered
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
+ Products and services targeting the poor
Products and services specifically designed to target the poor:
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Declining balance interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Protection at work (safety, anti-harassment)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Ability to attract new clients from target market
Client retention/drop-out rate
Portfolio quality
+ Social responsibility to the environment
This institution includes specific clauses in its loan contracts to mitigate specific environmental risks
This institution identifies enterprises with environmental risk
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
Per capita household expenditure

Partnerships

Current
Name	Relationship
MFC	Network Affiliation
Microfinanza Rating	Rating
MicroVest I	Funding
Oikocredit	Funding
Opportunity International	Network Affiliation
RMC	Network Affiliation
The Rating Fund	Partner

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Social Performance Profile

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