JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ameriabank, Armenia’s largest bank, said it issued $15m in bonds on Armenia’s stock exchange, ahead of a potential IPO. The bonds will mature in just over two years with a coupon of 6.75%. In January, Ameriabank said it was planning an IPO inLondon, after it received an investment of around $100m from international lenders.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank approved the sale of the local subsidiary of Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland to Russian lender Expobank, owned by Igor Kim. The deal had been announced in June. Earlier this year, Mr Kim bought RBS’s Russian subsidiary. The sale of RBS is considered important for Kazakhstan’s ailing banking sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
JULY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Chinese holding company Hualing wants to build the third largest bank in Georgia by merging Basisbank, of which it owns 90%, and Bank Republic, which it is looking to buy. France’s Societe Generale owns a 93.6% stake in Bank Republic and the EBRD owns the rest. If the agreement with Hualing goes through, Societe Generale will own an 8% stake in the merged bank and the EBRD will own a 3.9%. In recent months,Hualing has also heavily invested in Georgia’s construction sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
JULY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) said it plans to issue a €20m ($22m) loan to Azerbaijan’s AccessBank. Banks in Azerbaijan have suffered cash shortages this year, after the Central Bank abandoned the currency peg to the US dollar, slashing the value of the manat. AccessBank mainly funds small and medium enterprises. The EIB had issued a €25m ($27m) loan in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shops in Tajikistan larger than 40 square metres will now have to accept payment by both credit cards and bank cards or face a $1,000 fine under regulation passed in 2014 that has now come into force. The imposition of the 2014 rules may be linked to a cash shortage in Tajikistan whichhave caused liquidity problems for its banks.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
DUSHANBE, JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s Central Bank said it had placed Tajprombank under its administration because it had nearly run out of cash and also that it had asked the EBRD to step in to advise it on how to support the country’s ailing banking sector.
A banking crisis in Tajikistan, triggered by a recession in Russia and a slowdown in domestic economic activity, has spread.
Tajik media reported that the Central Bank had asked the EBRD directly for technical support and advice to help it smooth out problems in its banking sector. The EBRD has already said it is looking at bailing out Tojiksodirotbank.
It has said that is is considering more support, although it us unclear if this is just advice or also funds.
So far Tojiksodirotbank and now Tajprombank have been placed under the Central Bank’s administration.
A source at the Tajik Central Bank said it had placed Tajprombank under its administration on May 3.
“This decision was taken because Tajprombank had repeatedly violated banking legislation and other regulatory acts laid out by the Central Bank, weakening its financial position and disappointing its creditors,” the source said.
It is unclear why it took the Central Bank two months to acknowledge this.
Agroinvestbank has also been looking increasingly shaky. Last month, customers said they were finding it difficult to withdraw cash from Agroinvestbank’s ATMs.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
DUSHANBE, JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The sharp economic downturn that dragged Tojiksodirotbank into administration earlier this year is circling another potential Tajik banking victim.
People lining up to use Agroinvestbank ATMs in the capital Dushanbe complained of a shortage of cash and worried that it too was going to be placed under the Central Bank’s administration. A company spokesperson denied this.
Ozod, a 42-years-old driver, said he had checked several ATMs across the city to try to find some cash.
“None of them had money,” he said. “I called the bank and they told me to check this one, as they said they had put some money in it. Now, I am waiting here and I hope I can withdraw some money to buy groceries before the Ramadan holiday.”
Nigora, a 34-year-old employee of one of Dushanbe’s many international NGOs, said that she had lost trust in Tajik banks.
“We had Tojiksodirotbank and now this,” she said. “I want to change my bank but I don’t know which one I should choose because I don’t trust the banks anymore.”
In May, Tojiksodirotbank said it had run out of cash and asked the Central Bank to put it under its administration. It also started talks to sell a stake to the EBRD. Last year the IMF said a drop in the value of the somoni and a fall in remittances being sent from Russia had undermined the economy and threatened the banking sector’s liquidity.
An Agroinvestbank employee denied rumours the bank was facing bankruptcy. Instead she said that a religious holiday was pressuring the bank’s resources. “People need more money ahead of Ramadan and that’s why cash is drying up,” she said.
The Conway Bulletin’s Tajikistan correspondent toured Agroinvestbank ATMs in Dushanbe. Most were empty, some were able to give up to $25 and others ran out of cash midway through delivering it.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Parliament approved the sale of a 15.4% stake in BTA Bank Kyrgyzstan to Kazakh investors. The stake previously belonged to Daniyar Usenov, former Kyrgyz PM, who fled the country after a revolution in 2010 toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The new Kyrgyz government took possession of his stake in BTA and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for abuse of power in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – UnionPay International, the global branch of Chinese bank organisation UnionPay, said it will expand its operations in Uzbekistan, through an agreement with UzCard, an interbank payment system. The company, which operates in all Central Asian countries except Turkmenistan, is looking to expand its coverage at ATMs and card payments across the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)
JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pasha Bank, one of the largest banks in Azerbaijan, said it will launch a $200m Eurobond issue in the second half of the year. The bank expects yields of around 5%, Ivan Uglyanitsa, head of investment banking, told Reuters. Azerbaijan’s sovereign debt gives a yield of around 3.5% currently.
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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)