Bank RBK announced intends to merge with Qazaq Banki

/KASE, May 22, 2017/ – Bank RBK (Almaty), whose securities are officially listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), has provided the following press release of May 20, 2017 to KASE: quote The shareholders of Bank RBK and Qazaq Banki have been negotiating the merger of two financial institutions. In the near future, a Memorandum of Understanding is expected to be signed between the banks and become the starting point of the merger. The key provisions of the Memorandum have been agreed with the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The joint financial institution will operate under the brand of Bank RBK. A roadmap for a phased merger suggests that Vladimir Kim will become a major controlling participant of the new structure. The decision to merge is dictated by the desire of the shareholders to use new business opportunities amidst the changing economic situation. As expected, the merger of the banks will entail a synergistic effect, on the one hand, to significantly improve the business profitability, including the reduced costs, and, on the other hand, to seriously expand the bank's opportunities for the large-scale lending. The order of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev announced on April 11, 2017 and addressed to the shareholders of commercial banks and the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan proved that the shareholders of Bank RBK and Qazaq Banki had chosen the right decision. The merger process will be carried out in close cooperation with the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. "The consolidation of players in the banking sector by means of accumulating the capital of the "strong middle banks" is a natural and correct decision to achieve the goal of building a powerful banking sector that will be the driver of the country's economic development, which is why the meerger of Bank RBK and Qazaq Banki finds full understanding and support from the National Bank,", Chairman of the Management Board and member of the Board of Directors of Bank RBK Igor Mazhinov commented on the shareholders’ decision. Bank RBK is a universal financial institution of Kazakhstan with balanced development indicators. The bank has sufficient capital, high-quality portfolios of assets and liabilities, adequate level of provisions, and has been demonstrating sustainable profitability over a long period of time. The bank was assigned the long-term and short-term counterparty credit ratings at "В-/С" and the national scale rating at "kzB+" by Standard & Poor's. As of May 1, 2017, the bank's assets amounted to KZT945.9 bn, loan portfolio to KZT747.6 bn, customer funds to KZT674.8 bn, including deposits of individuals of KZT186 bn. The bank is represented in Astana, Almaty, Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Shymkent, Semey and Ekibastuz Qazaq Banki is one of the most dynamically developing banks in the market. As of May 1, 2017, the bank's assets amounted to KZT427 bn and the loan portfolio reached KZT329 bn. Its liabilities amounted to KZT387 bn. The bank's own capital was KZT40 bn, including the authorized capital of KZT33 bn. The financial result for 4 months of 2017 was KZT602 m. The branch network of the bank is represented in Astana, Aktobe, Almaty, Atyrau, Karaganda, Kaskelen, Taraz, Shymkent. unquote [2017-05-22]