Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 March /Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Eight Azerbaijani banks are in talks with a number of Turkish banks for the sale of shares in the light of a fivefold increase in the minimum capitalisation requirements for banks in Azerbaijan, a source in the banking sector in Turkey told Trend.
These are Access Bank, Atra Bank, Ata Bank, Demir Bank, Bank Respublika, Bank of Baku, AG Bank and Rabitabank.
"Azerbaijani banks are in talks and in particular with İş Bankası, Yapı Kredi and AK Bank," the source said.
As reported earlier, talks between İş Bankası and Rabitabank were delayed due to reticence on the transaction value. The Azerbaijani bank requires a price that exceeds the market price by up to 2.5 times, which is unacceptable by the Turkish bank, Hürriyet newspaper reported. Simultaneously İş Bankası is also negotiating with a number of other Azerbaijani banks.
Earlier, some Turkish media reported that after the fivefold increase of the minimum capital requirements for banks by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) standing at up to 50 million manat, some Azerbaijani banks turned to a number of banks in Turkey with the offer of partnership. This requirement comes into force from January 1, 2014.
Azerbaijani banks are seeking to sign any agreements with Turkish banks by the end of June this year, as after that time the cost of Azerbaijani banks may dramatically decrease due to approximation of the date of new requirements for bank capitalisation come into force in Azerbaijan.