Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- As part of joint work with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to transform the Joint-Stock Commercial Mortgage Bank Ipoteka-Bank and support its subsequent privatization, IFC has placed a new issue of Samarkand bonds, nominated in Uzbek soums, in the amount of more than 363 billion soums (equivalent to US$35 million) on the London Stock Exchange.

The proceeds from the sale of bonds will be directed to Ipoteka Bank as a loan to increase lending to SMEs with the possibility of further converting the loan into bank shares. This issue of bonds is the largest placement of bonds of IFC "Samarkand" and shows a steady interest in Uzbekistan from international investors.

In addition, Ipoteka-Bank continues to improve its corporate governance and operational activities. The Bank became the first financial institution with a state share in Uzbekistan, in the Supervisory Board of which the majority of seats were occupied by independent directors, and it was also headed by an independent director. This important decision was made to improve the efficiency of the Supervisory Board, the body that plays a key role in corporate governance and defining the Bank’s strategy, as well as in strengthening its independence.

Ipoteka-Bank has also achieved significant success in ensuring the operational autonomy of the institution. The bank has successfully reorganized its structure and made a clear separation between different groups of business segments (retail, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), corporate), operations and administrative functions, as well as introduced customer segmentation and established baselines for profit and loss for each business. segment. Work is underway to optimize credit processes, improve the risk management, internal control and audit system. 

With the support of IFC experts, the Bank also began work on the reorganization of the information technology architecture together with the leading CIS providers of banking IT solutions. All these changes are aimed at ensuring a complete modernization of the Bank’s business operations with a sound business model and an emphasis on expanding the reach of SMEs and retail banking services.