Kazkommertsbank Secures $1.35 billion Loan from Kazakhstan’s Distressed Assets
Fund, a Credit Positive
On 24 June, Kazakhstan’s National Distressed Assets Fund agreed to extend a KZT250 billion ($1.35 billion)
10-year loan to Kazkommertsbank (B2/Caa1 stable, caa12
) to allow the bank to lower interest rates on
outstanding loans, which will help the bank deal with its huge overhang of problem loans, a credit positive.
Most of Kazkommertsbank’s problem loans are a legacy of rapid loan growth before Kazakhstan’s 2009
banking crisis. In early 2014, Kazkommertsbank also absorbed the troubled BTA Bank (previously the
country’s third-largest bank by assets), which increased its nonperforming loans (NPLs) to 63% of gross
loans by mid-2014 from 32% at year-end 2013. Because about half of all overdue loans in the entire Kazakh
banking system (i.e., 29% of total gross loans as of 1 May 2015) are at Kazkommertsbank, a reduction in its
legacy problems3 will also benefit the broader Kazakh banking sector (see exhibit).
Kazakhstan’s Overdue Loans as Percent of Gross Loans
Source: The National Bank of Kazakhstan
Although the KZT250 billion loan equals only about 6% of the Kazakh banking system’s total overdue loans
of KZT4.0 trillion as of May 2015 (excluding restructured loans), it is equivalent to more than half of
Kazkommertsbank’s and 10% of the banking system’s Tier 1 regulatory capital.
The fund’s loan to Kazkommertsbank indicates that the Kazakh authorities’ are willing to help the nation’s
banks deal with their legacy asset-quality issues, and it follows KZT130 billion (about $700 million) in
multiple loans of support to banks in June that was more narrowly focused on mortgages originated
between 2004 and 2009.4
We expect that further government support will be needed to address the NPL overhang, especially as the
slowing local economy puts pressure on performing loans originated more recently. We expect other similar
loans to support other banks will be forthcoming later this year.