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Kazakhstan set to nationalize top banks
By PETER LEONARD,Associated Press Writer AP - Tuesday, February 3
ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan is on the verge of nationalizing two major lenders as the banking crisis in Central Asia's largest economy continues to worsen, government officials said Monday.
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The government has unveiled plans to acquire a 78-percent share in Kazakhstan's biggest lender, BTA Bank, as it struggles to meet capital adequacy requirements.
Although the $2.1 billion purchase will give the state total control over the lender, which has consolidated assets of $30.6 billion, authorities in the former Soviet republic are keen to diminish concern.
"This measure does not constitute nationalization, it is designed to ensure the smooth functioning of the bank," said Yelena Bakhmutova, head of the national financial services regulator.
Bakhmutova also announced Monday that the regulator has dismissed BTA Bank's chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, from his post.
The decision prompted Ablyazov, a former prominent opposition politician, to accuse the government of conducting a sustained campaign to gain control over BTA Bank by "dubious methods."
"The actions taken toward BTA Bank by the government are arbitrary and state theft," Ablyazov said in a statement. "The government's actions are a sign of the economic incompetence and the political shortsightedness of officials."
The Kazakhstan Today news agency cited the deputy chairman of the Samruk-Kazyna state holding company, which owns major state companies and allocates government money for investments, as saying talks are under way with Russia's state-owned Sberbank over sale of a stake in BTA Bank.
Kazakhstan's banks were among the first to be hit by the worldwide liquidity crunch last year because of high reliance on foreign borrowing. Top banks are struggling to survive, in spite of government reassurances that it will lend them its support. The government says lenders will need to pay back around $11 billion this year.
The government has allocated $21 billion to reinvigorate the economy, in part through fiscal stimulus initiatives and recapitalization of the country's leading banks.
Also Monday, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said a major shareholder in the country's fourth-largest lender, Alliance Bank, has offered to sell a 76 percent stake to Samruk-Kazyna for the symbolic sum of 100 tenge (82 cents).
"Samruk-Kazyna is considering the proposal," Masimov told a Cabinet meeting. He said Samruk-Kazyna is pumping $200 million into ailing Alliance Bank as a short-term measure to ensure liquidity at the lender.
The Central Bank is also prepared to provide Alliance Bank with short-term loans to ensure cash supply, he said.
Masimov also stressed that efforts to prop up the bank will only be temporary and that there is no prospect of permanent nationalization.
The government last week deposited US$1 billion into Kazkommertsbank and Halyk Bank, the country's second- and third-largest banks, as part of efforts to restore liquidity. The banks sold stakes of up to 25 percent to Samruk-Kazyna as part of the agreement.
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