Tag Archives: banking

Azerbaijan’s IBA pulls in $200m loan

APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan raised a $200m loan from 18 financial institutions. This is important because it means Western banks are willing to lend to Azerbaijani state-owned institutions despite the economic downturn.

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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)

Kulibayev criticises Kazakh Central Bank

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Timur Kulibayev, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men and son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, criticised the Central Bank’s handling of the growing economic fallout, a rare show of dissent by a senior member of the Kazakh elite.

At a business forum in Almaty, Mr Kulibayev said he was “not satisfied with the work of the Central Bank”, specifically with regards to the lack of liquidity.

“How can entrepreneurs get access to liquidity?” he said. “How can lending become more affordable? When we travel to the regions, these are the questions we are asked.”

The fallout from a slide in the value of the Russian rouble and a drop in the price of oil has hurt economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, piling pressure on its leaders and businesses. Mr Kulibayev owns Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s biggest banks.

Once feted as a leader–-in-waiting, Mr Kulibayev has become increasingly out-spoken and isolated.

The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE), a powerful organisation which he heads, has repeatedly criticised the Central Bank’s support for the national currency despite devaluation pressure.

Last month, Umut Shayakhmetova, the CEO of Halyk Bank also said in an interview that the Central Bank was hurting the economy by not allowing the currency to free-float.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Kazkommertsbank replaces chairman

APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazkommertzbank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks, named American Marc Holtzman as its new chairman, replacing Nurzhan Subkhanberdin. Mr Subkhanberdin remains a major shareholder in Kazkommertzbank. He lives mainly in London and has backed opponents of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Azerbaijani banks are burdening customers –IWPR

MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Banks in Azerbaijan are passing on costs triggered by the devaluation of the manat to their clients, the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) said.

The most vulnerable are people who took out loans in foreign currencies before the devaluation.

IWPR quoted local media which attributed two suicides to the devaluation and the sudden increased cost of repaying debt.

It also suggested that the commercial banks have been breaking the law by making people pay back loans at the new, weaker, exchange rate.

The IWPR quoted a Supreme Court judge saying that banks should continue to charge consumers the rate they took the loan out originally.

Experts have warned Azerbaijan that it needs to reduce consumers’ debt burdens to ensure its economic security.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

International Bank of Azerbaijan chief quits

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Jahangir Hajiyev, chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), resigned for health reasons. IBA is the biggest bank in Azerbaijan and has close ties to the government. Emil Mustafayev, a deputy chairman, was appointed interim chairman.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank raises dividend

MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After announcing a 58% rise in net profit, Halyk Bank said it would increase its shareholder dividend to 30% of its total profit. This is an increase from 2014 when Halyk Bank paid out dividends worth 25% of its profit. Halyk Bank is one of Kazakhstan’s biggest and most profitable banks.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Halyk Bank profit rises

MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks, posted a 58% increase in net profit in 2014 mainly due to a reduction in bad debt. This is good news for Kazakhstan’s banking sector which has been battling to reduce its proportion of bad debt.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazakhstan speaks up against off-shoring

MARCH 6 2015 (The Bulletin) – At a Senate hearing in Astana, chairman of the ministry of finance’s revenue committee, Daulet Yergozhin, said the country was going to impose new measures against off-shoring cash.

This is important — if new legislation actually appears — as the issue of Kazakhstan’s wealthy getting their cash out of the country while poorer sections of the population suffer during an economic downturn could turn political.

A study published last month by Alexander Cooley and Jason Sharman, two academics, analysed the channels through which the Kazakh elite amassed “spectacular fortunes” in Western financial centres.

Mr Yergozhin wasn’t responding to these accusations. Instead he said Kazakhstan was working with Switzerland and Liechtenstein to reduce the flow of capital out of the country.

“Already this year, we are planning to put barriers against the movement of capital [to offshore locations] and we will start seeing the results of this policy early next year,” media quoted him as saying.

Kazakhstan has been looking was to bring capital back into the country. Last year it introduced an amnesty for people which repatriated cash. It has said that this amnesty has so far attracted $1b back into Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Georgia CBank wants loans restructured

FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank wants commercial banks to present plans to restructure US dollar loans to help them cope with the drop in the value of the lari. An estimated 60% of banks’ loans are held in foreign currencies making them more expensive to service.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Azerbaijani manat devaluation hurts banks

FEB. 25/MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agencies warned that the 30% devaluation of the Azerbaijani manat last month would hurt the capitalisation of the country’s banks. Fitch said that most of debt held by Azerbaijani banks was in foreign currencies, making it more expensive for them to service.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)