Agroinvestbank

Agroinvestbank
Company typePrivate/Cooperative
IndustryBanking
Founded1992[1]
DefunctMay 21, 2021 (2021-05-21)
HeadquartersDushanbe, Tajikistan
Websitewww.agroinvestbank.tj

OJSC Agroinvestbank was the second-largest commercial bank in Tajikistan. The bank had been led by chairman Murodali Alimardon since April 1, 2015, who was the former deputy prime minister of Tajikistan.[2] It was initially known as the Tajik Agroindustrial Bank, and then as Shark up until 2002.[3] It was liquidated in 2021.

The bank has faced allegations in the past of being corrupt, for example with allegations that the employees of the bank helped a person borrow huge amounts of money, even though his companies were liquidated.[4]

History

After the end of the Tajikistani Civil War, the Tajik government which was in debt entered a sovereign debt agreement where they channeled their loans to the Agroinvestbank for cotton purveyor Paul Reinhart of Credit Suisse First Boston.[5]: 30  Thus, the bank became heavily invested in cotton production. In the early 2000s, the bank's loan portfolio mostly consisted of cotton producers, which were 90% of the portfolio and 11% of their total GDP.[6] However, due to falling cotton costs, the government pressured the bank into splitting in two. The first of these is with Kreditinvest, an asset management company, which garnered the liabilities and the second was Agroinvestbank which was the commercial bank.[5]: 33 

In 2009, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development acquired a 25% stake in the company with 1 share for $12 million.[7][8] Amid a banking crisis in December 2016, the bank was bailed out by the government along with others for $490 million to avoid bankruptcy.[9]

On May 21, 2021, the license of the bank was revoked by the National Bank of Tajikistan following its liquidation.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "Signing of Memorandum of Understanding Between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and OJSC Agroinvestbank of the Republic of Tajikistan" (Press release). 6 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Murodali Alimardon: Chairman of the bank". www.agroinvestbank.tj. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  3. ^ "The history of the bank". www.agroinvestbank.tj. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  4. ^ Ашӯров, Абдулло (10 August 2018). "СБП тавсия дод, ки "Агроинвестбонк"-ро барҳам диҳанд ва пули муштариҳоро баргардонанд". Радиои Озодӣ (in Tajik). Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b Kassam, Shinan (2011). "Stage 1: Sovereign debt agreement". One explanation for why farmers produce cotton collectively in post-Soviet Tajikistan (PhD). University of British Columbia. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  6. ^ Republic of Tajikistan: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix (Report). IMF. January 2003. p. 9. Retrieved 15 October 2022. As of June 2002, about 90 percent of AIB's loan portfolio (11 percent of GDP) was to cotton producers.
  7. ^ "EBRD becomes shareholder in Tajikistan's Agroinvestbank". www.ebrd.com. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. ^ Olcott, Martha Brill (27 November 2012). Tajikistan's Difficult Development Path. Brookings Institution Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-87003-303-2. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Tajikistan announces $490 mln bank bailout". Reuters. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  10. ^ Ibragimova, Kamila (May 24, 2021). "Tajikistan: Long-struggling banks finally liquidated". eurasianet.org. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Credit organizations in the stage of liquidation on grounds of bankruptcy". nbt.tj. Retrieved 13 September 2024.