TY - BOOK ED - World Bank. ED - World Bank. TI - Mali Financial Sector Assessment Program: Legal and Judicial Aspects of the Credit Environment T2 - Financial Sector Assessment Program PY - 2015/// CY - Washington, D.C. PB - The World Bank KW - Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress KW - Common Law KW - Credit KW - Debt KW - Default KW - Equity KW - Finance KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Financial and Private Sector Development KW - Financial Crisis KW - Financial Institutions KW - Financial Law KW - Insolvency KW - Insurance KW - International Financial Standards and Systems KW - International Law KW - Land Management KW - Land Registry KW - Law and Development KW - Legal Aspects of Project Finance KW - Legal Framework KW - Loans KW - Mortgages KW - Ownership Rights KW - Trade Law N2 - A country's legal and judicial environment can help or hinder access to credit. In addition to the banking law governing the organization of the sector, the operations of credit institutions are subject to several laws. Four components of Malian business law are particularly relevant in assessing the position of creditors, the law on secured transactions, the law on collective proceedings, the law on information-sharing related to debtors (sometimes called the credit reporting law), and the law on collection and enforcement proceedings. If creditors cannot have confidence in their legal environment, they will be inclined to lend only to persons they know well. In this regard, it is telling to note that in Mali, the 50 biggest clients account for 39.3 percent of the credit extended by banks (although this percentage has fallen in recent times). Furthermore, access to credit remains a major constraint in the Malian business world. Although the reasons are not confined solely to the legal sphere, it is important to point out that, according to the 2010 Enterprise Survey, Malian enterprises cited access to credit as the main constraint hampering the business environment (43.9 percent of enterprises). The same study showed that in the case of loans involving a security right, the value of the assets pledged stood at 201.4 percent of the amount borrowed, reflecting the lack of confidence by banks in their ability to actually enforce their rights. In addition, in view of the fact that 58 percent of loans require a pledged asset which, in most instances, takes the form of immovable property, persons who do not own such assets are, de facto, shut out of the system and unable to seek credit UR - http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/24271 ER -