Kazakhstan, Astana/ Trend , corr. K. Konyrova/ "Khalyk Bank" of Kazakhstan intends to enter the Azerbaijan's financial market, Trend Correspondent to Astana reports.
"We have been interested to enter the Azerbaijan's financial market for a long time. The strategy of our Bank envisages the development of Group of Companies of "Khalyk Bank" as a regional financial structure. The whole area of Central Asia, from Mongolia, the Russian borders and Azerbaijan inclusive is a region to us," said Grigoriy Marchenko, the Chairman of the Board of "People's Savings Bank of Republic of Kazakhstan" JSC.
According to the Head of the Board of the Kazakhstan's Bank, its entry to Azerbaijan's financial market is expected through acquiring a bank, insurance company or any other financial institution operating in Azerbaijan. Marchenko estimated Azerbaijan's market's capacities as very high. "The market is rather interesting in Azerbaijan, but compared with Kazakhstan, it is behind by several years. We consider that there are many banking products and technology that we could introduce to Azerbaijan, thereby bringing a use to the both Azerbaijani business and people. This, primarily, refers to the introduction of electronic plastic cards, mortgage and financial leasing," he said.
"There are foreign banks in Azerbaijan, but none of them play any serious role in the country's market. I think that if everything is done well and we could gain control of shares of the Azerbaijani Bank, which we are interested in, then we could advance within this market," he stated. Replying to the question of which Azerbaijani local bank "Khalyk Bank" would like to buy, the Chairman of the Bank's Board said that the Kazakhstan bank has some proposals to be put forward to Azerbaijan, however, it was necessary to discuss all nuances with the regulating authorities.
"Many countries experience a rather sensible attitude toward foreign banks," he said. Mr. Marchenko also admitted that it would be necessary to carry out preliminarily explanatory works. "First of all we should explain our strategy. We do not plan to win over large corporate client of Azerbaijani banks. We would like, primarily, to work in retail with the small-scale and medium-sized business which is our strength, both in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzia as well as other countries," concluded Mr. Marchenko.