Tunis — As part of the observance on March 15 of each year, the International Consumer Day which is dedicated to financial services, the organization of consumer protection (ODC) held on Monday in Tunis, a seminar under the theme "For better financial services".

In this context, the Governor of Tunisia's Central Bank (BCT), Mr. Taoufik Baccar announced that the profession will soon be forced into adopting a code of ethics or a charter for the quality and an ethics of referential regulating daily practice within banks and financial institutions.

He added that the code will have the advantage of building trust between the profession and consumers whether individuals or firms, especially as it complements the legal and regulatory framework governing the relationship in line with the guidelines of the 12th item of the 2009-2014 Presidential Program which focuses on achieving a higher quality of banking services and a dynamic banking system to the service of development.

With a view to establish national standards to facilitate adherence to metric system, Mr. Baccar recalled the launch of a technical committee within the National Institute of Standardization and Industrial Property (INNORPI) whose mission is to establish technical standards specific to banking services.

In this context, banks are required to opt for more communication technologies, which will generalize remote services, including those related to electronic payment and security of remote transactions.

Mr. Baccar has furthermore stressed that future efforts will focus on developing new banking businesses, creating new financial products able to attract a number of individuals, professionals and small and medium entreprises and assist them in their activities at the local, regional and international levels.

The next step, whose objective is to reach the ratio of one bank branch per 7,000 inhabitants by 2014, will also, be enhanced by strengthening the economy through the consolidation of interaction and communication with the banking sector.

Regarding the ODC, Tunisia's Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (APTBEF) and the Banking Services Center, the Governor of the BCT stressed the importance of coordinating their efforts to disseminate the culture of banking and financial services to the public.

The Arabisation of bank contracts and the simplification of their development, in addition to the adoption of unified models of contracts are also on the agenda of the ODC's recommendations, while informing the customer regarding the method for calculating loan repayments and interest rates.