The Government of Kazakhstan, together with the National Bank and Kazakhmys Corporation LLC, have developed a set of measures for the recovery of JSC Bank RBK, Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan Daniyar Akishev told reporters after the Government session on Tuesday.
As known, JSC Bank RBK is now facing difficulties in terms of supplying enough liquidity. Thus, timely implementation of the bank's client payments is limited.
Recall that the National Bank together with the Kazakh Government and potential investors held negotiations in order to make up a set of measures to resolve the bank's issues. Daniyar Akishev said that the recovery model implies capitalization of the bank by using the investors' funds equal to KZT 160 billion and further improvement of the bank's business model by investors so that to ensure sustainable development. Moreover, the set of measures involves transferring a distressed portfolio of about KZT 600 billion, which was provided to the shareholders and other associated persons, to a special financial company.
"In the short run, the Management Board of the National Bank will consider the bank's request for the amount of nearly KZT 240 billion within the participation in the Program for Enhancing Financial Stability of the Banking Sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan," Daniyar Akishev said.
He emphasized that the National Bank is now implementing these recovery measures as part of the above Program that was approved by the Resolution of the National Bank Management Board No. 129 dd. 30th June 2017.
As a result of the above-mentioned actions, the situation in the bank is expected to stabilize. "In the near future, the bank will start fulfilling its obligations for socially important payments, and the deposits of small and medium-sized savers," the head of the National Bank said.
As of today, individuals have set up a total of 28,139 accounts and deposits for KZT188 billion at the bank. In this respect, the Government decided to support Bank RBK using the funds of the National Bank, the Government, and the quasi-public sector.
The National Bank will analyze RBK authorized bodies' activities in implementing its loan policy that resulted in current losses. After that, it will submit relevant materials to law enforcement agencies for further action.
Kazakhstan’s central bank earlier announced that it would consider a 240 billion tenge (about $721 million) capital injection request from local lender Bank RBK and plans other moves to help it, Reuters reported citing the regulator on Tuesday.
As part of the bailout, RBK Bank, Kazakhstan’s ninth-biggest lender, will also transfer 600 billion tenge ($1.8 billion) in bad loans to a special purpose vehicle, central bank chairman Daniyar Akishev told reporters, without clarifying who will finance the deal.
Kazakhmys, a Kazakh copper miner, will top up the central bank capital injection with its own investment of 160 billion tenge (about $480 million) under the plan.
If approved, the RBK bailout would follow 410 billion tenge ($1.2 billion) in similar financing given last month to four other Kazakh lenders and a separate, $7.5 billion bailout of Kazkommertsbank, once the largest local bank, this year.
Kazakhstan’s oil-exporting economy, and its banking sector in particular, has been hit hard by the 2008 global crisis and the 2014 plunge in energy prices, which left many banks saddled with bad debt.
