Central Bank toughens requirements to borrowers

Kazakhstan-based banks will be obliged to turn down applications for loans by clients if the monthly payments exceed 50% of the clients’ income, the country’s National Bank’s resolution reads. When deciding on providing a loan, second-tier banks shall examine the total amount of any outstanding loans a client has had for the last 6 months and his/her average monthly income for the same period. Should monthly loan payments exceed 50% of the monthly income, the bank shall neither provide any new loans nor raise the current credit limits. The new resolution comes into force April 1, 2014. At the extended government sitting mid-February Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev commissioned banks’ heads to reduce the share of NPLs “in any possible ways” to 15% of their portfolio by 2015 and further to 10% by 2016. As of December 1, 2013 NPLs stood at 31.4% of the overall banks’ portfolio, 19.7% up against the start of 2013.