TASHKENT

Banks in Uzbekistan reported a net profit of 3.87 trillion soums ($362 million) in the first eight months of 2021, 12 percent up from the same period last year, the central bank said.

The regulator said that the interest income accounted for the bulk of the banking sector’s profit.

Expenditures reached 19.66 trillion soums, while the interest margin amounted to 10.5 trillion soums, which is 17.7 percent more than in January-August 2020.

The total non-interest income amounted to about 2.5 trillion soums, which is almost 4.6 times higher than in the first eight months of the last year.

There are 31 banks in Uzbekistan, 13 of which are state-owned. There are two branches of foreign banks.

Among 17 large banks, Kapitalbank holds the lead, the Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) said in its Bank Activity Index earlier this year.

Kapitalbank holds the leading position in terms of capital adequacy, profitability and quality of management in the first quarter of 2021.

TrustBank holds the second position in the rating. The bank’s liquidity coverage ratio is 5.2 times higher than the minimum requirement set by the central bank.

Aloqabank retained its 3rd place in the rating as one of the largest banks with a state share. This bank performed well in financial intermediation, capital adequacy and asset quality.

Microcreditbank and Promstroybank demonstrated the highest growth in the first quarter of this year.

Three leaders in the overall rating of 14 small banks are Davrbank, Ziraatbank and Universalbank.

Davrbank and Universal Bank showed the highest results in terms of financial affordability, while Ziraatbank became one of the leaders in terms of capital adequacy and quality of management.

The central bank said earlier this year that it had initiated a multi-stage financial sector transformation programme to expand its supervisory capabilities using innovative technologies and SupTech solutions.

The programme would be implemented with technical assistance from World Bank experts.

SupTech includes technologies and solutions that allow to optimise and restructure internal supervisory processes to bring them in line with the digital transformation of the financial sector in such a way as to process information faster and in large quantities, automate and optimize processes, analyze key risks and identify trends.

Experts say that in the long term, transformation through Suptech – along with other financial sector reforms – will help the central bank achieve its strategic goals of developing a sound financial system based on inclusiveness, innovation, efficiency and sustainable economic growth.