Tajik commercial bank that went bankrupt – Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Fononbonk – has fully paid off its debts to its customers, with the exception of persons associated with the bank, according the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) press center.
Tajik central bank notes that in accordance with the country’s legislation, debts to the persons associated with the bank will be paid off last but one.
According to the country’s law on banking activities, the associated person is any person who, directly or indirectly, can influence the decision-making of a lending institution
As of March 31, 2021, Fononbonk’s debts to physical (entities associated with the bank) and legal entities have amounted to 415,000 somonis and 1.1 million somonis, respectively.
Meanwhile, the bank’s total debt fell by 153.7 million somonis from March 3, 2017, when the process of liquidation of Fononbonk was launched. As of March 31, 2021, Fononbonk’s total debt reportedly amounted to 38.3 million somonis.
An interim administration of Fononbonk on March 4, 2021 asked the Dushanbe economic Court to extend the period of its work for another three months so that it could to complete the process of accepting and submitting documents to the archive, calculating payments to the budget and signing reconciliation statements with creditors. The court ruled to extend the period of work of the interim administration for one month.
Fononbonk has been experiencing liquidity issues since 2015. By the NBT’s order an interim administration was introduced at Fononbonk on October 5, 2015. According to Tajik central bank, the interim administration was introduced at Fononbonk for the purpose of improvement of the financial situation of that commercial bank and protection of interests of its depositors and creditors. The interim administration was reportedly introduced for the period of three months.
In December 2016, the National Bank announced it was refinancing Tajprombank to the tune of 450 million somonis, while Fononbonk got a relatively meager 80 million somonis. Larger banks like Tojiksodirotbonk (TSB) and Agroinvestbonk, which have also been experiencing serious liquidity issues, were topped up by 2.25 billion somonis and 1.7 billion somonis, respectively.
Meanwhile, Tajik central bank announced on February 24, 2017 it was pulling the licenses of Tajprombank and Fononbonk.
In April 2017, it emerged that the government decided unilaterally to allocate the 530 million somonis it had set aside as bailout funds for Tajprombank and Fononbonk to construction work on the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP), and their assets have been put on auction.
Headquartered in Dushanbe, Fononbonk has fourteen branches across the country. The bank was licensed to offer all types of banking transactions.
Fononbonk was established in the early 1990s as the Tajik branch of the Fonon Bank of the former Soviet Union. Later this branch was reorganized into commercial bank Fonon that had worked till 2000. In 2000, the bank was reorganized into non-banking credit organization Fonon with authorized capital stock of 100,000 US dollars. In May 2007, as complying with the National Bank of Tajikistan’s minimum capital requirements, which was revised upwards to US$5 million, the non-banking credit organization Fonon was reorganized into a closed joint-stock commercial bank Fononbonk.
Assets on Fononbonk’s books include 37 items. Among them are the bank’s headquarters in Dushanbe, fourteen branches across the country and an unspecified number of residential properties.
