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AFTER FIVE YEARS of rapid economic growth, Kazakhstan is set this year to make important decisions on government spending increases and on whether to continue the public-sector reforms that started so well in the financial sector. The thoroughly reformed banking and financial system has now reached the level of eastern Europe. The number of banks has been trimmed from 230 to 32 in a decade. Banking assets are 35% of GDP (compared with 15% in 2000) and there is no reason why they should not reach Poland's level of 70% in a few years, since assets are doubling every two years.
For some banks growth has been spectacular. For example, Alliance Bank, the fastest growing, posted figures for assets up 168% in 2002 and 162% in 2003. "The cost of funding is pretty much the same for everyone," says managing director Kurmangazy Iklasbekov. "Our focus is on the quality of the service."
Big ambitions
The biggest bank, Kazkommertsbank, grew 73% last year to $3.1 billion in assets, says a managing director, Andrey Timchenko. "This year we are offering the first-ever subordinated Eurobond in the Community of Independent States (CIS)," he says.