Bank CenterCredit 2009 profit hurt by disappointing fourth quarter

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ANALYSIS: Banks still cautious about lending as Kazakh growth returns

(bne) - Optimism returned to Kazakhstan when commodity prices rose last year. Sustaining the recovery will require an upturn in bank lending, but a more cautious attitude to risk and tighter regulation of the sector are holding back the banks.

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ANALYSIS: Eurasian Development Bank seeks to build funds, links

(bne) - 2010 is an important year for the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), according to its chairman Igor Finogenov. The EDB plans to grow its investment portfolio by over 50% and take in new members, and is managing the Eurasian Economic Community’s (EurAsEC) $10bn anti-crisis fund.

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Bad loans main systemic risk for Kazakh banks - central bank

(SRI) - Bad loans remain the main systemic risk for Kazakh banks while liquidity and currency risks are gradually declining, Kazakhstan’s central bank said Monday, citing its survey of the country’s commercial banks.

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Banking sector debt falls by $8.2 billion in 2009 - Marchenko

(SRI) - Total foreign debt of Kazakh banks decreased by $8.2 billion in 2009, central bank chairman Grigoriy Marchenko said on Tuesday.

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Kazakh lender BTA Bank files U.S. bankruptcy

(Reuters) - BTA Bank , the second-largest bank in Kazakhstan, sought bankruptcy protection in the United States to protect itself from U.S. creditors while it restructures $11.6 billion of debt at home.
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Regulator gives go-ahead to Eurasian Bank acquisition

(SRI) - The Kazakh Financial Supervision Agency (FSA) gave a go-ahead to Eurasian Bank, one of the country’s ten largest banks, to buy Russian Bank Troika Dialog, the financial regulator said in a statement.

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Kazakhstan to tighten banking regulation

(SRI) - Kazakhstan should impose limits on banks’ profit margins to avoid “excessive incomes” that helped trigger a financial crisis and restrict their exposure to industrial, construction and insurance assets, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told a government meeting on Monday.

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Banking sector stagnant in 2010 - BTA head

(SRI) - Kazakh banks are unlikely to show significant asset growth and improvement of their credit portfolios this year, BTA Bank CEO Anvar Saidenov told financial news portal profinance.kz.

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Creditors of defaulted banks in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine face a rocky road to recovery - S&P

(Standard & Poor’s) - Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that although recovery rates for creditors of defaulted banks in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine (KRU) have historically been muted, they could improve with support from the state.

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