Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 4
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
The level of confidence of foreign investors in non-bank financial institutions in Kazakhstan is higher than in domestic banks, according to the analytical service Ranking.kz.
At the end of the first quarter of 2015, the level of external debt of non-bank participants of the Kazakh financial market increased by 13 percent compared to the end of March 2014 and amounted to $3.3 billion. The external debt of banks in Kazakhstan at the beginning of April 2015 is estimated at $9.3 billion, which is 12 percent less than a year earlier.
The report of the analytical service said that the decline in external borrowing in Kazakh banks began in 2008, and since then this trend continues. At the same time, the interest of foreign investors to the non-banking financial organizations in Kazakhstan has shown a sharp increase in early 2013.
On the Kazakh financial market, loans as a source of funding are the most popular among microfinance institutions (MFIs) - by the end of the first quarter of 2015, the amount of loans corresponds to 66 percent of the total assets of MFIs.
The second place belongs to the mortgage companies, the ratio of loans to assets of which is 41 percent.
The organizations carrying out various banking operations have ranked third with 32 percent.
MFIs' leading position is conditional on regulatory restrictions according to which, the organizations issuing microloans can't issue securities and can't attract population's deposits.
MFIs have been actively attracting external financing in recent two years.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) allocated a loan in national currency equal to $5 million to Kazakhstan's largest microfinance organization KMF in May 2015.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group also allocated a loan in national currency equal to $5 million to KMF in October 2014.
Moreover, EBRD allocated $3 million worth loan to Arnur Credit microcredit organization in February 2013.
Only one bank among Kazakhstan's second-tier banks managed to attract funds from international financial institutions during the reporting period. Bank CenterCredit received 5 billion tenge (187.45 tenge = $1) in the first tranche as part of the agreement for 10 billion tenge signed with EBRD.
Edited by CN
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