Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 9
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Foreign investors were allowed to buy up to 5 percent of the shares of Uzbek banks (to each investor) without the prior consent of the Central Bank, Trend reports with reference to the head of the Uzbek Capital Market Development Agency Atabek Nazirov, who reported this on his Facebook- page.
To consolidate a larger package, as before, investors need the permission of the regulator.
It is expected that this measure will be an important step in attracting institutional investors to the stock market of Uzbekistan.
According to Atabek Nazirov, the agency is also considering the possibility of canceling the existing prohibition on individuals and non-residents to purchase government securities, which, in turn, implies the admission of their circulation to the Tashkent Stock Exchange.
Until that time, foreign investors could buy shares of banks in Uzbekistan only with the prior approval of the country's Central Bank.
In the coming years, Uzbekistan plans to sell part of its stake in a number of state-owned commercial banks. So, according to the decree of the President of Uzbekistan “On measures to further improve the mechanisms for attracting foreign direct investment in the economy of Uzbekistan”, 25 percent of the state share in Alokabank, Turonbank and Asia Alliance Bank will be offered to investors.
At present, 6 banks with foreign capital are operating in Uzbekistan. These are Savdogar JSCB (Germany, Singapore), HAMKORBANK JSCB (International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch Bank (FMO), KDB Bank Uzbekistan JSC (South Korea), Ziraat Bank Uzbekistan JSC (Turkey) and a subsidiary bank of Saderat Bank (Iran) and Tenge Bank (Kazakhstan).
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