Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Two more banks are expected to merge in Azerbaijan by late 2017, a source involved in the talks told Trend Oct. 27.
The source has not disclosed the names of the banks.
“They are quite big banks,” the source said. “The initiative to merge the banks is supported by both the country’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA) and the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA).”
It has been reported that some banks are negotiating about the merger, namely, Unibank and Demirbank, Bank Respublika and Rabitabank, as well as Nikoil Bank and AGBank.
“At present, Unibank does not hold negotiations about the merger with other banks,” Faig Huseynov, chairman of the bank, told Trend. “Nevertheless, Unibank is always open for such negotiations.”
In an interview with Trend, Zakir Nuriyev, ABA chairman, head of the Supervisory Board of Rabitabank, also denied rumors about merging with Bank Respublika.
Nuriyev stressed that as the ABA head, he supports merger of banks and considers it necessary to further intensify the negotiations in that direction.
"We do not want the banks in the country to shut down due to a shortage of capital,” he said. “We want them to continue their activity and therefore, we support the merger of banks."
Also a source close to Nikoil Bank told Trend, “Although there were plans about Nikoil Bank’s merger with AG Bank, they turned out to be futile as Nikoil Bank’s management regarded this idea inexpedient."
Today, there are several successful examples of merger of banks in Azerbaijan. For example, Unibank was established as a result of merger of Mbank and PromTexBank. Another example is the merger of AtaBank and Caspian Development Bank this year.
Thirty-one banks, including two banks with state shares, operate in Azerbaijan.