Tag Archives: banking

Georgia opens money laundering investigation into TBC Bank

TBILISI/JAN. 9 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Prosecutor-General confirmed that it had launched a money laundering investigation focused on a handful of transactions by the chairman and deputy chairman of London-listed TBC Bank in 2008.

It said that Mamuka Khazaradze, the TBC chairman, and Bardi Japaridze, the deputy chairman, took a $17m unsecured loan from TBC through two shell companies, Samgori Trade LLC and Samgori M LLC, which was promptly written off by the Bank and has never been repaid.

The investigation was ongoing, the Prosecutor-General said, but also that in an earlier investigation Georgia’s Financial Monitoring Service had “arrived at the conclusion that activities clearly showed the characteristics of legalisation of illegal income, i.e. money laundering, and other illicit acts.”

TBC Bank has denied any wrongdoing and said that the Central Bank investigated these transactions in 2008 and passed them off as transparent.

“We hereby categorically deny the false accusations and misleading information carefully orchestrated by the forces behind the dark PR,” TBC said.

Some allies of Mr Khazaradze said that Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the owner of a rival bank, may be trying to discredit him.

TBC Bank is the largest retail bank in Georgia with a 38% of the loan market. Its shares fell by 5% on news of the investigation to 1,408p.

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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Consumer lending rises in Azerbaijan

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JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer lending in Azerbaijan increased by 6% in 2018 compared to the previous year, the Central Bank said, the first annual rise since 2015. The rise is an important sign that consumer confidence is returning. Azerbaijan was heavily hit by an economic downturn from 2014, triggered by a drop in oil prices. One of the drivers of Azerbaijan’s economic decline was a high proportion of poor loans, often unrecoverable, to consumers.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

TBC Bank under investigation

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TBILISI/JAN. 9 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed TBC Bank, Georgia’s largest retail bank, said that the Georgian Central Bank had investigated transactions between two of its units in 2007 and 2008.

The transactions involved TBC Bank’s chairman Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the deputy chairman, TBC Bank said in its statement without detailing the allegations.

“The National Bank of Georgia has issued a fine of about 1m lari ($375,000) and, at this stage, it is unclear whether NBG will seek to impose additional sanctions,” TBC Bank said in a statement.

“TBC has already challenged this fine in the courts in Georgia and the court has issued an injunction suspending payment of the fine.”

It also added that the Georgian Prosecutor-General had opened an investigation linked to the transactions.

TBC Bank has said that it denies the unnamed allegations.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Creditors win appeal against IBA debt restructuring

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DEC. 20 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in London ruled that International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) couldn’t block its creditors from trying to recover fees and assets lost during its 2017 debt restructuring. The appeal against the IBA injunction was brought by Russia’s Sberbank, which had lent IBA $20m, and asset manager Franklin Templeton, which held IBA debt. Both companies had opposed the $3.3b restructuring deal by the state-owned bank.

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>>This story was first published in issue 395 of The Conway Bulletin on Dec. 23 2018

Georgia’s TBC Bank starts building new HQ

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TBILISI/DEC. 20 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBC Bank, one of two Georgian high street banks listed on the London Stock Exchange, started building a new $70m headquarters in a controversial site in countryside near Tbilisi.

If the building work goes to plan, the glass and steel complex set in the Lisi Lake recreational area will open in 2026 and will be the largest corporate office in the region, an expression of confidence and intent by TBC.

In a statement, TBC emphasis that its new headquarters will provide a light and flexible workspace for 2,000 workers.

“We are creating a completely new standard, which involves the use of the best technologies and at the same time combining elements of traditional Georgian architecture in a completely modern building,” said Badri Japaridze, deputy chairman of TBC.

The headquarters is also being designed to incorporate laboratories for employees to experiment on new ideas and concepts.

But the project is not without its controversies. Set in the Lisi Lakes area, transparency campaigners have accused TBC’s founders of buying the land on the cheap, in a 2007 deal that left the Georgian state, and ordinary people, short-changed.

In a report published three years ago, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an activist group based in Berlin, said that TBC chairman Mamuka Khazaradze had bought the 354 hectare site from the government for $55m, instead of the original $182m asking price.

The new deal also dropped various conditions to improve the ecology of the area and also to improve access to the Lisi Lake area.

“Instead of being required to spend US$ 30 million on improvements, the only obligation in the new contracts is to build housing,” the OCCRP said in its report.
Mr Khazaradze, ranked as the second wealthiest person living in Georgia, has denied any wrongdoing.

Since buying the land, Lisi Lake Development and other companies linked to Mr Khazaradze have built housing, business centres on the site and also a university – the American Academy.

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>>This story was first published in issue 395 of The Conway Bulletin on Dec. 23 2018

Berdymukhamedov appoints new head of agri-bank

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OCT. 8 (The Conway Bulletin) – Myratniyaz Berdyev has been promoted to chairman of Dayhanbank State Commercial Bank of Turkmenistan, from deputy chairman, official Turkmen media reported by quoting a presidential press release. Dayhanbank focuses on supplying loans to agriculture businesses. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov fired the bank’s previous chairman last month.

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>>This story was first published in issue 388 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 17 2018

Kazakhstan’s Tsesnabank not imposing restrictions

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SEPT. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) – Crisis-hit Tsesnabank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank, said that although it had experienced “an unexpected and sharp increase of fund withdrawal requests” it had not set withdrawal restrictions despite some Kazakh media reporting that limits had been imposed. The Central Bank is effectively bailing out Tsesnabank by buying up its $1.2b agriculture loan portfolio.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

Former Georgian PM takes EBRD job

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SEPT. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) – Former Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili took a job as an adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In an interview with media he said that one of his main functions would be to take his experience of setting up dialogue forums between the EBRD and Georgia to Uzbekistan. Mr Kvirikashvili had been Georgian PM from December 2015 to June 2018.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

EIB to lend Georgia’s TBC 30m euro

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SEPT. 24 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Investment Bank (EIB), which is linked to the European Union, lent Georgia’s TBC Bank 30m euro to extend its financing of small and medium-sized companies. Officials from both banks said that they expected 600 small companies to benefit from the loan. Financial institutions have been targeting boosts to Georgia’s business sector.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

EBRD considers buying IBA stake

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JAN. 31 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EBRD is considering buying a stake in International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), which is majority-owned by the Azerbaijani government (Jan. 31). Last year the IBA defaulted on loan repayments forcing it to restructure its debts. The EBRD already owns shares in other Azerbaijani banks. Azerbaijan’s government had bought stakes in IBA as a way of bailing it out.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin