Central Bank of Uzbekistan recommends banks to merge to meet capital requirements

From September 1, in Uzbekistan, the size of the authorized capital of banks should be 200 billion soums. So far, eight banks do not meet this requirement. The Central Bank warned about the revocation of the license if the capitalization requirements are not met, and recommended that they carry out a merger. This was reported by the correspondent of “Gazeta.uz”.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has warned banks to revoke their licenses if their authorized capital does not meet the new minimum capital adequacy requirements, the press service of the regulator reported.

According to the amendments to the law “On Banks and Banking Activities”, from September 1, 2023 to January 1, 2025, the minimum amount of the authorized capital of banks should be gradually increased:

• 100 billion soums – until September 1, 2023;
• 200 billion soums – from September 1, 2023;
• 300 billion soums – from April 1, 2024;
• 500 billion soums – from January 1, 2025.

The Central Bank noted that they had given banks recommendations on bringing the authorized capital to the indicated amounts and meeting the new requirements.

The regulator recommended that banks with insufficient authorized capital to merge (merge) with other banks to comply with the new requirements. Otherwise, it threatens to revoke the license to carry out banking activities.

As of May 1, the capital of eight banks is below 200 billion soums – the minimum authorized capital, which will come into force in three months. Among them are Madad Invest Bank, Poytakht Bank (149 billion), Ravnaq-bank (127 billion), Uzum bank (108 billion), Apex Bank (100 billion), Smart Bank (99 billion), Hayot Bank (- 0.2 billion) and Uzagroexportbank (32 billion).

Financier Otabek Bakirov stated that Uzagroexportbank has not met the capital adequacy requirements (100 billion soums) since its inception. At the end of last year, Olim Shadiev’s Support Level company privatized the bank for $5 million, but has not yet increased the capital to the required level.

In his opinion, the Central Bank must first apply equal rules for everyone and ensure compliance with the law by all market participants. Otherwise, other banks will also not comply with the rules.

When approving amendments to the law in April, Erkin Gadoev, Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Economic Reforms, noted that the introduction of this norm would bring prudential norms (critical values that a bank must meet to ensure its sustainable activities) in line with international standards. In particular, we are talking about providing sufficient funds for the solvency, liquidity and profitability of banks.

According to the senator, increasing the level of capitalization and resource base of banks will create additional legal conditions for attracting foreign investment in the sector, providing additional loans to the population and business entities for 17 trillion soums.

Analyst Karen Srapionov believes that the increase in the minimum capital of banks may be due to the desire for market consolidation and is not in the best interests of the banking system.