News

After the memorandum of agreement signed in September last year, the purchase and sale contract on the privatisation of Ipoteka Bank was signed on behalf of OTP Bank by Chairman & CEO Sándor Csányi and Deputy CEO László Wolf and by Finance Minister Timur Ishmetov on behalf of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Jamshid Khodjaev on behalf of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

According to the analysts of the international rating agency "Fitch Ratings", "Ipoteka-bank" has a strong franchise for mortgage loans and has historically paid special attention to this segment. The bank's net interest margin improved and cost-to-income ratio (CIR) decreased to 34% last year due to effectively controlled operating expenses. In 2021, the profitability of the bank's capital was 20%, and according to the rating of "Fitch Ratings", it is considered profitable comparing with many other banks in Uzbekistan.

The formation of a risk culture among bank employees is important in building an effective risk management system in the bank, providing a comprehensive understanding of the principles of risk management.

Discussions about various risks associated with environmental, social and governance aspects (ESG) are gaining importance and intensification due to COVID-19. Companies are facing changing behaviors and habits that are changing business practices. More importantly, banks are coping with the unfolding asset value crisis and the associated credit risks, both in terms of lending and asset management.

On June 9, 2022, employees of the Risk Management Department conducted a webinar for risk coordinators of the bank's branches and divisions of the Head Office, dedicated to raising the level of risk culture and identifying and self-assessing operational risks.

Confidence in our overall asset quality, earning trajectory and cost optimization allowed the Bank gain remarkable profit. Net profit grew by 119% yoy to UZS 886.8 billion. The increase in net profit was driven by a growth of net interest income and fee and commission income.

On May 25, Ipoteka-bank held investor-call in JP Morgan’s “Frontier Markets Fixed Income Conference” which brought together all major players with investment interests for the emerging and developing economies.

The Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan has published a Banking activity index for the 1st quarter of 2022. According to the rating, for the 1st quarter of this year Ipoteka-bank achieved the highest growth among banks, rising by 6 positions and taking 3rd place among all banks and 1st place among the state-owned banks.

On March 24, 2022, a signing ceremony was held in the building of the EBRD's Tashkent office to increase the trade finance limit between JSCMB “Ipoteka Bank” and EBRD by 30 million US dollars. After increasing the trade finance limit, the total permanent TFP limit reached 55 million US dollars.