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Weekly Lists
March 8, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 25
bne:Banker
Hungarian central bank governor makes case for consolidation in banking sector
Japan’s Orix, US’ Bain Capital reportedly eyeing pressured Turkish banks’ NPLs
Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) governor Gyorgy Matolcsy suggested that consolidation of the banking sector would be preferable as the size of the Hungarian market can support five or six big universal banks sustainably.
In an interview published on March 6, Gyorgy Matolcsy, who has been appointed for another six-year term as MNB governor, said consolidation in the sector would support a rationalisation of op- erations and lead to lower costs for borrowers.
The MNB has suggested for years that the market is ripe for con- solidation, but industry insiders have noted that big foreign banks' decisions to maintain a presence in Hungary may be more a matter of strategy than profit.
Japanese financial services group Orix Corp and US private equity firm Bain Capital are in talks to invest in non-performing loans (NPLs) at Turkish banks, three sources close to the matter were quoted as saying by Reuters on March 6.
Following last summer’s currency crisis in Turkey, which has brought on a painful economic slowdown, some lenders are look- ing to bolster their balance sheets by selling NPLs and loans under close monitoring. Creditor companies throughout the country are battling to deal with cash flow and debt difficulties.
Turkish banks’ NPL ratios officially stand at more than 4% and are expected to rise. Turkey’s banking watchdog says the share of NPLs could rise to 6% this year and some economists see it going even higher.
Kazakhstan’s largest lender by assets Halyk Bank is set to open a subsidiary bank, dubbed Tenge Bank, in Uzbekistan within a month, Aslan Talpakov, chairman of the bank’s board, has said.
Previous reports indicated that the bank would open its Uzbek subsidiary be end-2018. The Uzbek and Kazakh central banks signed an agreement on July 10 which relaxed regulatory requirements for setting up operations by subsidiaries of Kazakh banks. The document is not necessarily limited to Kazakh banks, however, as it generally allows banks with ratings of ‘B’ and higher to set up subsidiaries in Uzbekistan. Previously, only ‘A’-rated banks were allowed to open branches in the Central Asian nation.
Kazakh Halyk bank
to start operating in Uzbekistan in a month