Uzbekistan’s largest and one of the oldest state-owned banks, Uzpromstroybank (UzPSB) is set to go private until 2023. According to a government resolution adopted on March 29, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is to open a $75-million credit line for this purpose. All or part of the loan is to be converted into additional ordinary shares.
The Finance Ministry and UzPSB are to draw up a roadmap for the privatization within the next two months.
As part of the privatization process, the bank’s supervisory board is to be updated, comprising five new independent members with international banking practice.
From now on, UzPSB is banned from channeling its funds into authorized capital of commercial organizations in areas that are not related to banking activities.
The resolution recommended the bank to accelerate the implementation of the tasks assigned to the motivation mechanism for employees of the head office and the branch network, including the implementation of key performance indicators (KPI); to sell non-bank assets acquired as a result of the bank’s investment activities; to take effective measures to reduce the share of foreign currency loans. (Uzreport/Business World Magazine)