BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 29
By Fakhri Vakilov – Trend:
The Hungarian OTP Bank will become the owner of 75 percent of the state share of Uzbek Ipoteka Bank within the framework of the privatization process of this bank, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan Jamshid Kuchkarov said, Trend reports referring to the Uzbek media.
Kuchkarov made the remarks on September 29 at the Economic Forum in Tashkent.
According to him, the first package of documents is planned to be signed on September 29, and the transaction will be fully completed within two months.
He also added that Uzbekistan is actively moving towards the privatization of banks.
“We don't need 10 state banks, ”the Ministry of Economic Development emphasized.
The approach used in the privatization of Ipoteka Bank will also be applied to Uzpromstroybank, which recently received a $75 million convertible loan from IFC.
“We hope that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will also allocate $ 50 million to support the process of bank privatization in the country,” the minister said.
OTP Group is a Hungarian banking group operating in the areas of finance, insurance, investment and banking - from asset management and leasing to pension financing. It is one of the key providers of financial services in Central and Eastern Europe. OTP Bank, which is the largest bank in Hungary, forms the backbone of the group.
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