Survivors plan their escape from crisis
At the helm: Umut Shayakhmetova, CEO of Halyk BankIn May, The Banker examined the fate of Kazakhstan's fallen giant, Bank BTA. The Kazakh banks that have stayed solvent now explain their recovery strategies. Writer Philip Alexander
Slowdown hits CEE banks hard
Two themes dominate the changes in this year's rankings compared with 2008. First, the heavy sell-off in the currencies of many central and eastern European countries, including Russia, Hungary and Ukraine, has reduced Tier 1 capital in dollar terms. Second, liquidity crises and the revelation of high non-performing loan (NPL) ratios on portfolios that had not previously been tested in an economic downturn has brought a number of banks close to collapse, knocking them out of the Top 1000 altogether.
Battered and bruised but ready to move forward
BTA Bank has been at the centre of a financial storm involving a state bail-out, Kazakhstan's real estate crash and rotating central bank governors. However the tools to stabilise the situation now appear to be in place. Writer Philip Alexander
Grigoriy Marchenko,
reappointed governor
of the National Bank
of Kazakhstan (NBK)
Kazakhstan Searches for pain relief
Georgy Iosifyan, management board, BTA Bank
When the credit crunch struck, Kazakhstan was first hit and worst hit among emerging markets. Philip Alexander looks for signs of recovery.
