In late October, the upper house of parliament in Kazakhstan passed the latest amendments to a law designed to bolster confidence in the central Asian republic’s banking sector, which has been buffeted by the global credit crunch. This, in turn, has choked off the supply of cheap foreign currency debt that had fuelled the rapid expansion of Kazakh banks’ networks and lending portfolios in recent years.
The law on financial stability, which is expected to receive final sign-off by president Nursultan Nazarbayev in the near future, lays the ground for the Kazakh authorities to effectively nationalize...
