Tsesnabank to become bank holding

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Tsesnabank JSC informed it has received a permission of the National Bank to acquire a major stake in Bank CenterCredit JSC and approval to become a bank holding, Kazinform correspondent reports.

"Tsesnabank (Astana), whose securities are officially listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), has informed KASE on receipt on April 10, 2017 "of permission No. 19 dated April 7, 2017 from the National Bank of Republic of Kazakhstan to hold a major stake in Bank CenterCredit ..." and "approval from NB of RK of acquiring the status of a bank holding by Bank CenterCredit" the KASE website reads.

As it was reported, Korean Kookmin Bank plans to sell its stake in Kazakh Bank CenterCredit (BCC) and Tsesnabank was discussing possible merger after repurchasing the stake.

Bank holding is a company that is the majority shareholder in at least one bank. A bank holding company controls the operations of the banks it owns. Bank holding companies have access to liquidity from regulators through the loans made to the banks themselves.