Uzbekistan, Tashkent, March 4 / Trend D. Azizov /
In 2009, Halk Bank (People's Bank), a state-run profit bank of Uzbekistan, increased its assets calculated in accordance with the national bookkeeping standards by 1.7 times compared to 2008 to 877.7 billion soms, Halk Bank's Press Service reported on Tuesday.
Last year, Halk Bank's loan portfolio increased by 77 percent up to 419.2 billion soms, liabilities increased by 71.7 percent up to 721.7 billion soms, shareholder's capital increased by 1.6 times up to 156.7 billion soms, including 100 billion soms as the statutory capital.
The bank's statutory capital consists of 200,000 ordinary shares each with the nominal value of 500,000 soms. The founders of the bank are the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, which own 51 percent and 49 percent of the shares, respectively.
Following the results of 2009, net profit of Halk Bank was equivalent to 22.457 billion soms compared to 11.789 billion soms a year earlier (almost a double increase).
Halk Bank was reorganized from the Republican Savings Bank of Uzbekistan in 1995. The Bank is the Government's agent responsible for implementation of public programs and operates as a universal profit bank. In accordance with the Law 'On cumulative pension provision of citizens', Halk Bank is the only organization that accumulates accounts of citizens who partake in the cumulative pension system (CPS). The bank keeps the leading position in terms of physical persons' deposits, with its market share of 23 percent.
The bank has 200 branches, 2,500 divisions, more than 200 mini-banks and around 300 branches of the saving banks. The bank serves around 30,000 legal entities and 9 million physical persons.
In October 2008, the Uzbek President ordered to double the bank's statutory capital by the end of 2012 up to 200 billion soms at the price of supplementary issues of shares. In accordance with the document, the shares will be distributed among the existing founders proportionally to their interests.