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Professor James Nehf recently conducted a review of draft Armenian consumer protection legislation. The review was part of a Financial Sector Deepening Project (FSDP) for Armenia that is being conducted by Emerging Markets Group (EMG) (www.emergingmarketsgroup.com) an international development consulting firm with offices in Washington, London, and Brussels. The project, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to improve the soundness, safety, stability and integrity of the financial sector in Armenia by enabling its Central Bank to implement risk-based supervision of financial institutions and improve transparency, information sharing, and institutional governance. The goal is to strengthen and deepen the financial sector and help promote economic growth and alleviate poverty.

The Central Bank drafted consumer protection laws on consumer credit, deposit attraction (truth in savings), and financial ombudsman. At the request of EMG, Professor Nehf performed a desktop review and commented on the draft laws. The review compared the principles, concepts, and language contained in the legislation package to best practices for countries that can be analyzed to Armenia globally. EMG submitted the report to the Central Bank at the end of August.