Kazakhstan’s PM Massimov meets Sberbank CEO German Gref

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Massimov met Sberbank CEO German Gref today, Mr. Massimov wrote in his Twitter account. Sberbank of Russia has been present in Kazakhstan since 2006. The HQ is based in Almaty. Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of Russia’s Sberbank has entered the top ten banks in Kazakhstan in terms of assets, Tengrinews.kz reported April 26, citing Oleg Smirnov, Chairman of the Board. According to Mr. Smirnov, the bank’s assets in Kazakhstan are set to grow by 40% in 2011. Sberbank today is the largest credit institution in Russia and CIS. For a long time Sberbank was considered the most probable candidate to purchase Kazakh Government’s stake in BTA Bank. The Government [represented by Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Fund] is expected to sell its stakes in in BTA, Temir Bank and Alliance Bank before 2014, KazTAG reported April 6. This was announced by Kairat Kelimbetov, the then Chairman. He made this announcement at the Minex Central Asia – 2011 mining forum in Astana. In 2009, as part of the government’s anti-crisis package, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund bought common stock in the mentioned above banks.