Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Center for Economic Research and Reforms has updated the rating of the most active banks in Uzbekistan. Qishloq Qurilish Bank, Asia Alliance Bank and Agrobank showed rapid growth and significantly improved their positions. At the same time, the most active banks in the fourth quarter of 2021 were Kapitalbank, Hamkorbank and Trustbank.

The Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) has developed the Banking Activity Index for 31 commercial banks in Uzbekistan. Based on the Index, the CERR updates the rating of banks on a quarterly basis. The study is being conducted to monitor changes in the share of the private sector in banking assets, as well as to assess the effectiveness of reforms and transformation processes in the country's banking sector.

Uzbekistan aims at the exit of the state from the banking sector. This is envisaged by the Decree of the President on the Strategy for Reforming the Banking System of the Republic for 2020-2025. It is planned to reduce the state's share in the banking system from the current 85% to 40% by 2025.

In the coming years, the state-owned stake in Ipoteka-Bank, Uzpromstroybank, Asaka Bank, Aloqabank, Qishloq Qurilish Bank and Turonbank will be gradually sold. Before that, it is planned to increase their effectiveness with the assistance of international consultants. To this end, a Project Office for the transformation and privatization of commercial banks with state shares was created under the Ministry of Finance.

As of 1 December 2021, the assets of the banking system of the republic amounted to 427.4 trillion soums (growth by 1 December 2020 - 21.9%), liabilities amounted to 360.3 trillion soums (growth 23.2%), total capital - 67 trillion soums (15.7% growth). Today, about 56 thousand people work in the banking system.

In the CERR study, banks were divided into two groups - large and small. The rating is compiled separately for each of these groups. At the same time, the group of small banks includes banks operating only in Tashkent (or only in one region).

Rating of activity of large banks for the IV quarter of 2021

Among 17 large banks, Asia Alliance Bank improved its position by 2 points and took the 6th place.

The bank maintains good results in terms of financial intermediation (2nd place), potential profitability (5th place) and liquidity (3rd place). However, the results of the rating show that Asia Alliance Bank should pay attention to capital adequacy and asset quality indicators.

Ipak Yuli Bank took the 7th place in the overall rating. This bank entered the top 5 banks in terms of affordability (5th place) and potential profitability (2nd place). The rating of the bank on financial intermediation (15th place) indicates the need to improve the ratio of term deposits to loans, borrowings from other banks and financial organizations, as well as liabilities to the Ministry of Finance.

Aloka Bank moved down one point in the rating and took the 8th place. Despite the decline, this bank shows the best results among banks with a state share. In particular, the bank retained the 4th place in financial intermediation. It is also one of the leading banks in terms of the quality of banking assets (6th) and financial sufficiency (7th). Capital adequacy ratios show that special attention should be paid to the ratio of total regulatory capital (Tier 1 capital) to risky assets.

Agrobank moved up to 10th place in the overall rating (+1 point). Positive changes were observed in financial intermediation (+2 points), management efficiency (+2 points) and liquidity (+2 points). It also entered the top 5 banks in the financial affordability and capital adequacy rating. However, the bank's performance in terms of management efficiency (14th) and profitability (15th) remain low compared to other banks.

The largest increase in the overall rating was observed at Qishloq Qurilish Bank (11th place). A significant increase in the volume of the loan portfolio and the number of loans issued by this bank, as well as an improvement in liquidity indicators ensured the growth of the bank in the rating by 5 points at once. However, the bank's profitability rating (16th) shows that attention should be paid to the ratio of net interest income to assets and interest expenses and the share of non-interest income in total income.

Although Uzpromstroybank maintained its results in the 3rd quarter, the strong performance achieved by Agrobank and Qishloq Qurilish Bank led to the bank dropping to 13th place in the overall ranking.

Rating of activity of small banks for the IV quarter of 2021

In the IV quarter of this year, Davrbank and Ziraatbank retained their positions in the rating of 14 small banks in Uzbekistan, and Universal Bank was forced to give up its positions to Anorbank.

TBS Bank moved up 2 points in the overall rating and took 6th place. This was due to a significant improvement in the performance of the bank's financial intermediation.