Kazakhstan’s Kaspi Bank, which counts Goldman Sachs Group Inc. among its shareholders, may be too popular with savers for its own good.
With 600 billion Tenge ($1.6 billion) of deposits from individuals and 108 billion Tenge of equity as of Dec. 1, according to central bank data, the Almaty-based lender may already be pushing the limits of a new rule that foresees a capital hit for banks whose deposits exceed 5.5 times equity. Some other banks, such as Centercredit Bank, are approaching that level.
And the banks’ situation grows more precarious every time the Tenge falls, driving up the value -- reported in Tenge -- of deposits denominated in dollars, euros and other major currencies. In Kazakhstan, 78 percent of deposits are held in foreign currencies, according to central bank data for November. That means banks could wind up exceeding the level, even if they accept no new deposits.
Regulators in oil-rich central Asian country, where lenders have restructured about $20 billion of debt since the financial crisis, are trying to prevent some banks from becoming too big to fail. Their task is complicated by the plight of the Tenge, which has fallen nearly 50 percent against the dollar since the central bank shifted to a floating exchange rate in August 2015, as tumbling crude prices and devaluations by neighboring Russia and China boosted the cost of defending the currency.
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INC News, 20/01/2016 - source: ©BloomberBusiness
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