A new bank has been established in Tajikistan through merger of two financial institutions.
A new bank – Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Arvand Bank – has been established through merger of the Microcredit Deposit-taking Organization Arvand (LLC MDO Arvand) and CJSC AccessBank Tajikistan.
The operating license was handed over to Arvand Bank chairperson, Ms. Shoira Sodiqova, previously CEO of LLC MDO Arvand, on September 30. Ms. Sodiqova is currently the only woman in the country to head a commercial bank.
“The new bank was established through merger of LLC MDO Arvand and CJSC AccessBank Tajikistan. Licenses that were issued to these financial institutions were revoked,” says the press center of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT).
Established in 2002, LLC MDO Arvand had been the third-largest microfinance institution in Tajikistan. It had provided financial services to entrepreneurs and vulnerable people in Tajikistan. Arvand’s product offerings included loans, deposits, current accounts, remittances, currency exchange, and a number of non-financial services. By the end of second quarter of 2019, Arvand had 42,000 active loan clients, of which 72 percent are from rural areas.
CJSC AccessBank Tajikistan was a mid-size bank in Tajikistan. It was established with the financial support of a number of European development banks and was 100% foreign-owned. The full package of shares of this bank belonged to Access Microfinance Holding AG. According to its authorized capital (80 million somoni), AccessBank Tajikistan was ranked 8th among 17 commercial banks operating in Tajikistan.
