OREANDA-NEWS. On 15 February 2008 was announced, that In 2007 Bank TuranAlem JSC (BTA) came off with the development of all lines of its activities and continued efforts to reinforce its standing on the financial markets of Kazakhstan, CIS and world.

Pursuing its strategy of turning into a biggest private bank in the CIS, BTA gradually expands its product range and introduces advanced banking services.
Although competition grows tougher and turmoil on the financial markets rumbles on, BTA demonstrated impressive financial performance in 2007.

Preliminary Performance of BTA Conglomerate in 2007

As of January 1, 2008 BTA consolidated assets hit USD 25.5 billion, a 56% jump from early 2007. This surge is attributed to a 30% swell in customer deposits, a 62% growth of issued debt securities, and a 4.1% increase in assets of loan offices, as well as an increased equity capital. At the end of 2007, customer deposits with the Group totaled USD 5.4 billion whereas equity capital made USD 3.8 billion.

BTA Group contributed to 25.5% of all banking assets of Kazakhstan as of the reporting date (22.8% as of January 1, 2007), and accounted for 23.7% of deposits (24.9% falling on deposits from entities and 19.5% of individual deposits).

Last year, BTA was stepping up the lending and made its contribution to propelling the economic growth in Kazakhstan. The loan portfolio of the Bank skyrocketed by 88% to USD 19.9 billion. The share of the Group in the aggregate loan book of banks in the country made 27.4% vs. 23.7% at the end of 2006.

The Bank showed a steady rise of its profitability indices in 2007. The net interest margin changed in 2007 as follows:
January 1, 2006. – 4.2%
January 1, 2007 – 4.8%
July 1, 2007 – 5.3%
October 1, 2007 – 5.6%
January 1, 2008 – 6.0%
The 1.8-point gain of the net interest margin was obtained with loan portfolio quality unchanged from 2006.

At the end of 2007 Group’s profit stood at USD 580 million, almost a double rise compared to 2006.

BTA Group reports ROA of 2.8% and ROE of 26.1% as of the key date.
Tier one capital adequacy ratio * – 17.2%
Tier two capital adequacy ratio * – 17.9%

(* in compliance with recommendations of the Basel Agreement)

Forecast of 2008 Financial Highlights

In 2008 and 2009 the Bank will focus its efforts to support small and medium-sized enterprises and to provide a broad range of services to individuals.

With a view to improve its risk management policy in 2008, BTA intends to gradually curtail lending to borrowers in the CIS countries and blow up lending on the domestic market. The Bank is also to continue using local deposits to edge out the foreign borrowings. Consequently, the share of foreign borrowings in its liabilities will drop whereas local deposits will rise.
In 2008, the Bank projects a 20% growth of assets, it wants to increase the equity capital by 17% and loan book by 21%. BTA expects that quality of its loan portfolio would remain at the level of 2006 and 2007, which means not more than a 5% ratio of provisions to the loan portfolio.

Milestones

Following its own traditions, BTA sticks to establishing precedents in the banking system of Kazakhstan and the CIS by buying a foreign bank. At the beginning of 2007, BTA acquired a 34% stake in Turkey's Sekerbank T.A.S.

A new strategy, to become a leading financial institution in the CIS and to make its brand recognizable worldwide, is among other pillars that underlie the rebranding launched in fall 2007.

Last year the Bank also gained a number of top awards from respected international organizations:

In 2007 Bank TuranAlem appeared in the Banker’s TOP 300
Bank TuranAlem also ranks the third in the Banker's Highest Movers rating leaping more than 500 ranks and overtaken only Arab Foreign Bank (Libya) and Intercontinental Bank (Nigeria). The Banker uses the following criteria to pick the winners: stable financial development, efficient management of capital, IT introduction, development of bank’s infrastructure and strategic market breakthroughs.

The Itogi declared Bank TuranAlem ‘The Best CIS Bank of 2007’ for a second year in a row
The 2007 research by the Itogi covered the development of banking systems in the CIS countries. It named Bank TuranAlem "The Best CIS Bank of 2007" after BTA won "The Best CIS Bank of 2006" nomination.

BTA named ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Kazakhstan’
Global Finance magazine recognized Bank TuranAlem "Best Trade Finance Bank in Kazakhstan" in an exclusive survey.
"The best banks in the trade finance business are those that understand the global supply chain requirements of their customers and integrate financial services with automated processes to handle the growing volumes of international trade efficiency and with less risk," said Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and president of Global Finance, commenting on the research.

BTA’s syndicated Wakalah awarded "2007 Best Deal of the Year: Kazakhstan"
The Islamic Finance News has saluted BTA’s USD 250 million syndicated Wakalah facility in "Best Deal of the Year 2007: Kazakhstan" nomination.
With this borrowing BTA has significantly diversified its investor base, in particular the Bank has bolstered existing and established new relations with investors from Middle East and Malaysia.
The key criteria for the award were that the deal is the largest Islamic Facility for a financial institution in Kazakhstan with Sharia-compliant structure and is the largest Islamic Financial Institution syndicated deal outside Middle East.

BTA Ipoteka's securitization deal named ‘RMBS Deal of the Year – Europe’
International Securitisation Report (ISR) and Thomson Corporation named a securitization deal of BTA Ipoteka closed in April 2007 ‘RMBS Deal of the Year - Europe.’
ISR award is a strong salutation of achievements on the market of structured financing.
Bank TuranAlem JSC (BTA) operating in the CIS and far-abroad countries is expanding into the CIS. Activities of its strategic bank partners cover Ukraine, 4 regions in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BTA also runs its representative offices in Russia, Ukraine, China and the United Arab Emirates.

In Kazakhstan, BTA chain embraces 22 branches and 280 cash settlement centers.