Uzbekistan

HSBC DCM banker Odilbek Isakov has been hired to run Uzbekistan’s new debt management office.

The world’s first bond denominated in Uzbekistani soum was listed on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. The bond, issued by the International Finance Corporation, is expected to be the first step in the country’s growing ambitions for a capital markets presence.

Emboldened by the ability of its neighbour Tajikistan to access the capital markets, Uzbekistan is preparing ground to secure its first sovereign rating, with a view to issuing a Eurobond in the future, according to sources.

Economic growth in Central Asia is picking up but experts at the IMF are concerned that leaders are not doing enough to address fiscal deficits

This article is the fourth and final part of a series on China’s Belt and Road Initiative that we are publishing during the 2017 IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Washington DC. We have devoted two articles to the Road element, and two to the Belt element, of which this piece is the second and focuses on the western part of the overland route

The Korea Exchange (KRX) has set its sights on Uzbekistan, as the Asian regulator takes another step forward in its plan to draw overseas companies to list on its markets.

Russia’s DeltaCredit Bank has opened books on a Rb5bn ($151m) five year covered bond and is aiming to close the deal by Friday, said bankers on the deal.

Société Générale’s Russian subsidiary, DeltaCredit Bank, is expected to place notes of its recently priced covered bond on Tuesday, its treasury told The Cover. It is expected to return with further deals next year as the Russian fledgling covered bond framework continues to restrict local issuers to their domestic market.

The Russian mortgage market has grown quickly, lifting prospects for fledgling covered bond issuance. However, despite being Ucits eligible and in line with the European Covered Bond Council’s Label definition, the country’s legal framework is not yet aligned with western Europe’s.

In the midst of the global financial crisis, officials at the National Bank of Azerbaijan are making time to review a draft covered bond law for the South Caucasian country, in a sign of their commitment to a project that is aimed at stimulating its mortgage market.

Reduced bank funding options, a growing reliance on retail deposits, and a frozen secondary real estate market. Sound familiar? No, it’s not the US, but Kazakhstan. But while covered bonds are coming to the fore in the States and being taken up in CIS countries such as the Ukraine, the market’s direction in Kazakhstan is less clear.

When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s and US Treasury’s covered bond announcements came out, David Lucterhand, chief of party at Access to Credit Initiative (ATCI) in Kiev, reacted by writing to colleagues: “Finally, somebody understands what we’ve been talking about for years!”