Kazkommertsbank says 2012 net loss will not impact bank's future operations
ALMATY. April 26. (Interfax) - Net losses incurred by Kazkommertsbank (KKB) in 2012 will not impact the bank's future operations, KKB's managing director Sergei Mokrousov has said.
"In the fourth quarter of 2012, the rate of provisioning rose to 32.5% of the gross portfolio to IFRS [international financial reporting standards], leveling up with the provisioning rate of Kazakhstan's regulatory standards. It was caused by additional 196 billion tenge allocations for provisions. This is a one-time allocation and has no relations to the changes in the quality of the loan portfolio, macro environment or bank's operating activities, "he said at the Interfax press center in Almaty on Friday.
KKB CEO Nina Zhusupova added that introduction of international standards led to increase in risk assets despite the fact that "portfolio, structure and risks remained the same." "However, our estimates indicated additional pressure on the capital," she said.
Mokrousov said that the bank expects positive operating results in 2013.
"SMEs [small and mid-sized enterprises] and retail lending will grow by nearly 15%, in other words the corporate lending will be substituted by retail and SME loans within the structure of the credit portfolio. Operating expenses will increase, but slightly by 5%. Net margin, according to our moderate forecast, will stand at 3.7% compared to 3.3% in 2011 and 3.9% in 2012, " he said.
Kazkommertsbank reported an IFRS net loss of 130.932 billion tenge last year as compared to a net profit of 23.52 billion tenge a year earlier, the bank has reported. KKB said that the net loss was a product of greater provisioning.
Assets contracted 4.7% last year to 2.445 trillion tenge. Equity capital dropped 29.5% to 307.969 billion tenge and share capital declined 0.2% to 9.008 billion tenge.
Kazkommertsbank is one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan and has subsidiaries in Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan that specialize in pension fund schemes, pension assets and financial assets management, insurance and brokerage business.
According to the State Financial Supervisory Committee of Kazakhstan's National Bank, in 2012 Kazkommertsbank was ranked first by assets among the 38 second-tier banks operating in Kazakhstan.
The official exchange rate on April 26 was 151.05 tenge/$1.
