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- Newslink Trends-The Global Strategic Perspective
- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
3rd January 2012
BTA close to failure - again
BTA is seeking to change the terms of its debt restructuring with its creditors warning that it may fail if the new terms are not agreed.
Chairman, Anvar Saidenov, chose to use an open letter to publicise this information, though the bank's problems were already apparent. He stated:
". . .The board is unanimously of the view that a further restructuring of the bank’s balance sheet is in the best interests of all the banks creditors, shareholders and GDR holders. If nothing is done to address this situation the bank is likely to be placed in conservation (administration) or commence bankruptcy proceedings under Kazakh law. . ."
There is no doubt that without aid from some source the bank will not be able to continue trading as 9 month figures clearly showed the severity of the problems and the bank has debts becoming due this quarter. Given the questionable progress since the first agreement it is possible the creditors will conclude that the bank cannot be saved and not agree to further writedowns. The first agreement took many months to agree and a similar wait would appear impractical. Most of the shares are already owned by the state wealth fund, Samruk-Kzyna and the ability of it or the central bank to find significant new funds would appear unlikely. It is understood the creditors include: Bank of America, Barclays, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo. In the first round creditors wrote down $7bn, around 60% of the debt.
Lazard Freres is advising BTA. A series of meetings with creditors is planned for later this month.
Kazakhstan's banks raised large amounts of money on the back of enthusiasm over oil and gas pipelines and related businesses. When this bubble burst many of the country's banks had financial problems. Adding to the external problems, BTA had internal problems with the claim that up to $12bn was embezzled by the former management. There is a trial currently occurring in London regarding embezzlement and fraud claims. Whilst the bank is seeking billions of dollars from the defendants it would appear unlikely that any significant sum be recovered in the event of them being found guilty. In a further problem the bank's accounting for arrears and bad debt has been questioned.