National Bank of Georgia grants Basisbank permission to purchase Liberty Bank

TBILISI. Aug 13 (Interfax) - The merging of Georgia's Basisbank, controlled by China's Hualing Group, with Liberty Bank, the country's third-largest bank, will not restrict competition on the financial market, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) said, citing a decision by its competition committee.

"JSC Basisbank is planning to acquire 95.99% of shares in JSC Liberty Bank as part of a consolidation [...] The National Bank has discussed the matter of the consolidation and has established that it will not substantially limit effective competition on the corresponding market and is compatible with a competitive environment," the regulator said in a statement.

The NBG estimates that the unified financial institution will have a market share of just over 10%. According to legislation, a consolidation with a market share within 15% is not considered as restricting competition.

The regulator said that Liberty Bank would continue operating with its existing legal structure as a subsidiary of Basisbank after the signing of the deal. The final merging of the two banks is expected to be complete within 9-12 months.

It was reported at the beginning of July that the NBG had begun reviewing the consolidation of the two banks.

Basisbank was founded in 1993. In 2012, Hualing Group bought 90% of shares in the bank, later increasing this to 92.3%. The bank had assets exceeding 4 billion lari at the beginning of April and ranks fourth among 14 Georgian banks in terms of the size of its assets portfolio. In April, the Fitch Ratings agency confirmed a long-term credit rating of "B+" for the bank, with a "positive" outlook.

In March 2022, Basisbank purchased assets in Russia's VTB bank in Georgia.

The Basisbank Group holding unites the BB Insurance and BB Leasing companies.

Liberty Bank is the successor of the state-owned AgroMetsvbank, which was privatized in 1994, renamed to the People's Bank of Georgia in 2002 and renamed once more to Liberty Bank in 2010. Georgian Financial Group B.V., registered in the Netherlands, became the bank's principal shareholder in 2017 and now holds a 98.51% stake. Liberty Bank's ultimate beneficiaries are U.S. citizen Irakli Rukhadze, UK citizen Ben Marson and U.S. citizen Igor Alexeyev, who each own 31.38% of shares.

Liberty Bank's assets were worth 5.45 billion lari at the end of the first quarter, the third largest portfolio of all Georgian banks.

In April 2025, Fitch Ratings confirmed a long-term credit rating of "B+" for Liberty Bank, with a "positive" outlook.