Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Tojiksodirotbonk (TSB), which is Tajikistan’s second largest commercial bank, is paying out savings to its customers in the northern province of Sughd.
“To-date, the bank has paid out 36 million somoni to its customers in the province and it has remained to pay out 63 million somoni to them,” Firdavs Zainiyev, the head of TSB’s branch in Sughd, noted at a news conference held by the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT)’s branch in Sughd in Khujand, the capital of the Sughd province, on February 7.
“To improve its activities and pay out savings to its customers the bank has put its properties, including houses, apartments, vehicles, factories and shops, on auction,” Zainiyev said.
According to him, the Sughd law enforcement authorities are assisting TSB with retuning non-performing loans (NPLs).
The deposit and loan portfolios of TSB’s branch in Sughd now include 63 million somoni and 77 million somoni respectively, Zainiyev added.
Recall, TSB, which is one of Tajikistan’s failing banks, embarked on a desperate fire sale in order to pay out savings to its customers in early January this year. .
The bank is currently seeking buyers for its seven facilities located in Dushanbe, including shops, drug stores and shopping malls, according to the TSB press center.
Among the items for sale listed on the TSB website are the bank’s properties located in ten cities and districts of the country.
Assets on TSB’s books reportedly include the bank headquarters in Dushanbe, 43 branches across the country, Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) Dushanbe Mall (Tajikistan’s largest shopping mall, which is home to the country's first ever hypermarket to be part of the French Auchan chain), Tajikistan Hotel in Dushanbe, eight nine-story apartment buildings in Danghara district (Khatlon province), spinning mills in Danghara and Farkhor districts (Khatlon province), cotton ginneries in Khatlon province, and auto-repair enterprise.
TSB’s customers include some foreigners, including Afghan diplomats. One of them has told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service that he and three other Afghan diplomats have failed to withdraw their savings totaling 300,000 USD from TSB for already three years.
They had reportedly put those funds in their accounts in TSB while they had worked with Afghan diplomatic mission in Dushanbe. Former Afghan diplomats intend to file lawsuit against TSB, according to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.
Four local commercial banks, including TSB, have been experiencing liquidity issues since 2015. Parliament in December 2016 approved a government decree to issue bonds to recapitalize the mentioned banks. TSB and Agroinvestbonk were topped up by 2.25 billion somoni (US$284 million) and 1.7 billion somoni (US$215 million) respectively.
TSB was established in December 1990 as the Tajik branch of the Vnesh Econom Bank of the former Soviet Union, and it initially specialized in trade and import-export banking. Later this branch was reorganized into a Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Tajikvnesheconombank”. In June 1999 the bank was renamed and registered as Tojiksodirotbonk or TSB.
Headquartered in Dushanbe, TSB has 11 branches in the main cities of Tajikistan and covering all regions of the country.
