BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Georgian TBC Bank Group PLC invested $35.1 million in TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ),Trend reports via EBRD.
The mentioned $35.1-million investment consisted of EBRD and IFC investing $7 million each, plus TBC Bank Group PLC investing the remaining $21.1 million.
TBC Bank Uzbekistan is a subsidiary of TBC Bank Group PLC, the holding company of the leading banking group in Georgia, TBC Bank JSC.
The initial investment was up to $18.8 million ($9.4 million each from EBRD and IFC). TBC Bank Group PLC invested $25.9 million.
Altogether, the investments in TBC UZ totaled $79.8 million. According to the investment agreement, further capital increases are also planned for 2023 and 2024.
This capital increase is part of multi-year financing plan under the investment agreement signed on September 30, 2021, between TBC UZ, TBC Bank Group PLC, the EBRD and IFC, when the two institutional investors (the EBRD and IFC) acquired stakes (20 percent each) in TBC UZ.
In the two years following its launch, TBC Bank Uzbekistan has delivered on its significant growth ambitions.The bank received its license in April 2020 and started operations in October 2020, using an innovative fintech platform of TBC Group, Space, which offers retail banking solutions through a mobile application. By July 2022, over 2.4 million people had downloaded the TBC UZ app. Today, it operates in 10 new-generation showrooms in nine cities around Uzbekistan and at 33 “customer activation points” across the country.
TBC Bank Uzbekistan provides a digital customer experience for retail users and offers online services including money transfers, loans, car loans, deposits, installments, bank cards and bill payments. All services are available through the TBC UZ app.
The investments of EBRD, IFC and TBC Bank Group PLC will further boost the operational growth of this already established private market player and promote international standards of corporate governance in the banking sector, as well as contribute to strengthening digital finance in Uzbekistan.