According to Ipak Yoli Bank, the ADB acquired 13.56% of new shares of the bank for US$3,425,984.52 or 7.038 billion soums.

As of 23 April 2013, the charter capital of Ipak Yoli Bank rose by 6.9 billion soums and reached 50.9 billion soums, the bank’s statement said.

The Uzbek bank said that the investments into equity of the bank will help to introduce international banking standards and the best international practices into its operations, strengthen capital adequacy and mobilize additional long-term resources to expand financing of local businesses.

It is worth to mention that the deal is a first investment of the ADB in the charter capital of commercial bank in Central Asia and third transaction of the ADB Department on private sector operations. First two investments into private sector in Uzbekistan were directed to oil and gas industry of Uzbekistan.

As reported earlier, Investment Committee of the ADB approved investment into equity of the Ipak Yoli Bank on 7 August 2012.

Ipak Yoli Bank and the ADB started their cooperation in 2006 with implementation of project on development small and micro financing. The Uzbek bank used resources for US$11.3 million within the project.

The bank used these resources to finance projects of small businesses. Overall, the bank issued credits to 4,796 projects and 40% of them were projects of women.

Uzbekistan and the ADB have been cooperating for over 18 years and the ADB became key partner of Uzbekistan in implementation of structural reforms in economy of the country. The ADB support Uzbekistan in reforming education, power sector, construction of railways and roads, development of financial sector, etc.

On 4 September 2012, the ADB and Government of Uzbekistan have agreed on a new five-year country partnership strategy (CPS) for 2012-2016, which covers key derelictions of social-economic development of Uzbekistan.

The new strategy will focus on transport, energy, municipal services, water, and access to finance. The CPS will also prioritize governance, regional cooperation and integration, private sector development, knowledge management, gender equity, and climate change. Currently, the ADB approved 35 joint projects with total cost of over US$3.8 billion.