Expert: Banks merger is a tendency in CIS
"Nowadays the tendency is that the CIS countries - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan - banks get larger and less in quantity. Obviously before the crisis there were too many banks including in Kazakhstan. (...) After the crisis and in the post-crisis period there started a wave of optimization, merger and fusion processes. Foreign investors started to arrive. The banks had to generate higher flow of money for their shareholders. Income becomes priority. Everybody became more thrifty and aiming at income. Fusion and merger of commercial banks gives additional income to the shareholders. Perhaps, this tendency will live for the next three-five years", Nikolai Ivchenko said.
According to the expert, banks' loan portfolios grow slowly, and amalgamation is the only for them to earn.
"To exist a bank should contribute to development of investments, economy or some specific industry. The bank should be engaged in business development. If a bank earns the most part of its money on consumer crediting, its influence on development of national economy decreases. The role of banks in development of industrial policy of the country is very important. In that case a bank is considered large and it can be considered fully functional", - the analyst added.
Earlier the largest banks of Kazakhstan Qazkom and Halyk announced that they had started negotiations on potential transaction. Tsesnabank and Credit Center Bank have announced they also consider accession. The Korean bank Kookmin decided to sell its share (41,93%) in BTsK to Tsesnabank. Later the management of Tsesnabank declared that it discusses a possibility of merging with BTsK after the redemption of the share.
