Baku, Azerbaijan, March 6
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA) welcomes any steps taken by banks to increase capital, FIMSA Executive Director Ibrahim Alishov told reporters in Baku on March 6.
He was commenting on the information on the continuation of consolidation process in the Azerbaijani banking sector.
Alishov said that banks can both increase their authorized capital through additional injections, and merge to create a more stable financial institution.
“Banks are the sector’s private entities and are free to conduct any negotiations. We have not received concrete proposals so far, but if there are proposals, then we are ready to consider them,” the executive director added.
Earlier, Head of Azerbaijan Banks Association Zakir Nuriyev told reporters that currently, at least two Azerbaijani banks are negotiating for merger, but did not disclose the names of those banks.
There is information in Azerbaijan’s banking market on possible merger of Bank of Baku and AFB Bank, as well as AccessBank and Nikoil Bank.
The merger of AtaBank and Caspian Development Bank was completed in the first half of the last year. As a result, the Caspian Development Bank was liquidated and its assets were transferred to AtaBank.
Presently, 30 banks operate in Azerbaijan’s banking market.