Circular to Banks No. 08 of 2020

Dated April 1, 2020
Subject: Exceptional Measures to Support Individuals.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, having reviewed Law No. 35 of 2016 dated April 25, 2016, concerning the determination of the basic system of the Central Bank of Tunisia; and Law No. 48 of 2016 dated July 11, 2016, concerning banks and financial institutions; and Circular No. 47 of 1987 dated December 23, 1987, concerning the granting of loans and their monitoring and refinancing, as amended by subsequent texts; and Circular No. 24 of 1991 dated December 17, 1991, concerning risk assessment and monitoring of commitments, as amended; and Circular No. 10 of 2018 dated November 1, 2018, concerning savings and loan institutions; and Circular No. 07 of 2020 dated April 25, 2020, concerning exceptional measures to support individuals; and the opinion of the Supervision Committee Circular No. 08 of 2020 dated April 31, 2020; has decided as follows:

Article 1.
A third paragraph is added to Article 2 of Circular No. 07 of 2020 dated April 25, 2020, concerning exceptional measures to support individuals, with the following text:
"Customers who do not wish to benefit from the postponement measure must notify the bank thereof by any means leaving a written record."

Article 2.
Articles 3 bis and 3 ter are added to Circular No. 07 of 2020 dated April 25, 2020, concerning exceptional measures to support individuals, as follows:

Article 3 bis.
Banks shall postpone the repayment of loans granted to individuals whose daily net income is less than one dinar, and whose loans are due between April 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020, extending the repayment deadlines accordingly. This measure applies to non-professional loans granted to customers classified as 0 and 1 at the end of December 2019, in accordance with Article 8 of Circular No. 24 of 1991 dated December 17, 1991. Customers who do not wish to benefit from the postponement measure must notify the bank thereof by any means leaving a written record. The support measures stipulated in this Article are not considered loan restructuring, and the postponement period specified herein is excluded from calculating exposure limits under Circular No. 24 of 1991 dated December 17, 1991, for beneficiaries of the support measures under this Article.

Article 3 ter.
Banks may apply the measures mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 3 bis to individuals whose daily net income is less than one dinar, classified as 2 and 3 at the end of December 2019, in accordance with Article 8 of Circular No. 24 of 1991, on a case-by-case basis. The postponement period is excluded from calculating exposure limits for beneficiaries of the support measures under this Article.

Article 3.
This Circular takes effect from its date of publication.

Governor,
Marouane Abbassi