Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 18 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The Azerbaijani government is waiting for the right time to start the privatisation of the country's largest bank, the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA).
This was relayed to Trend on Tuesday by General Director of Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Rashad Orujov.
"Preliminary work on the privatisation process is underway, it was never suspended. Consulting companies involved in this process carried out an evaluation of the bank, prepared a privatisation strategy and submitted their proposals. Now the main issue is to choose the right moment and time for privatisation. This is very important. Right now is not appropriate time for privatisation or sale of banks in the world. A strategic approach is necessary in regard to this issue with the right time being chosen," Orujov said.
Earlier, the head of Economic Policy Department at the President Administration Mail Rahimov told Trend that currently the government is not considering the issue of IBA's privatisation,
"At present, this issue is not on the agenda," Rahimov said.
Consulting services in preparation for privatisation of the IBA are being carried out by a consortium consisting PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit Azerbaijan (PwC) and law firm Salans UK.
As of July 1, 2012, the IBA accounted for 35 per cent of the Azerbaijani banking market, 30 per cent of the sector's loan portfolio, 35 per cent of the total deposit portfolio, 21 per cent of the total capital and around 23 per cent of the profit before tax.
IBA was established in 1992 as the successor to the Azerbaijan branch of Vnesheconombank.
IBA has a dominant position in the banking sector. The state share in the authorised capital of the bank is 50.2 per cent with the remaining shares being distributed among private legal and physical entities.