Tashkent, Uzbekistan, April 11
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services suspended its 'CCC' long-term and 'C' short-term counterparty credit ratings on Uzbekistan-based Amirbank, S&P said on April 11.
The rating suspension reflects Standard & Poor's lack of receipt of timely information.
"In particular, S&P has not received the bank's recent financial statements or any other information related to the bank's current or prospective activities," according to the statement.
S&P may reinstate the ratings on Amirbank after the receipt and analysis of the information that we need to maintain the ratings.
"If the agency does not receive sufficient and reliable information to maintain the ratings in the next three months, S&P will withdraw the ratings," according to the statement.
It was reported that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Uzbekistan-based Amirbank to stable from positive in December 2013. The agency affirmed the 'CCC' long-term and 'C' short-term counterparty credit ratings.
Growth during the first nine months of 2013 was sluggish at 4.8%. This was significantly lower than the bank's planned growth of over 30%. This lag in growth largely stemmed from the bank's prolonged inability to obtain regulatory capital of €5 million and its consequent failure to obtain a foreign currency license, S&P said.
It was reported that the minimum amount of authorized capital of private banks is set at five million euros in Uzbekistan.
S&P could consider raising the ratings if the bank succeeds in obtaining a foreign currency license and improves its business diversity and the quality of its revenues base, while continuing to gradually improve its risk management and operational capacity and maintaining capitalization at strong levels.
S&P may revise outlook to negative if we see continued underperformance relative to the bank's planned strategy.
Amirbank was established in Samarkand in October 2008. It is among small regional banks. Amirbank's owners are 18 physical and eight legal entities.
As of 2012, the bank's net assets increased by 23.1 percent - up to 27.459 billion soums, the total loan portfolio - by 19.7 percent to 12.776 billion soums, equity - 1.3 times, up to 13.891 billion soums.
The data as of 2013 are not currently available.
The official exchange rate is 2267,74/$ 1 and 3137,48/1 euro on April 11.