BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 3. Azerbaijan’s investment firms have seen their balance sheet indicators take a nosedive during the first half of 2025.
Data obtained by Trend from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) indicates that total assets of investment firms fell by 23 percent (42 million manat ($24.7 million)) to 140 million manat ($82.3 million), while liabilities dropped by 33 percent (42 million manat ($24.7 million)) to 86 million manat ($50.5 million) compared to the end of last year. The contraction was largely driven by a reduction in leveraged financial assets, including repo and reverse-repo operations.
Even though firm-level assets took a hit, client assets saw a silver lining, jumping 23 percent (450 million manat ($264.7 million)) to reach a whopping 2.4 billion manat ($1.4 billion). Growth was mainly fueled by brokerage services in foreign markets, where client assets surged by 31 percent (513 million manat ($301.7 million)) to 2.1 billion manat ($1.2 billion).
Net profits of investment firms declined sharply, falling 67 percent (2.9 million manat ($1.7 million)) to 1.5 million manat ($882,300) over the same period. The dip was chalked up to soaring fees and commission costs, ballooning payroll and social expenses, and climbing administrative bills.
Nonetheless, the industry's capital framework remains robust, with aggregate capital standing at 52.8 million manat ($31 million) and mandated capital at 7.4 million manat ($4.3 million), thereby guaranteeing that investment entities uphold a substantial capital cushion.
