Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Center for Economic Research and Reforms calculates the Bank Activity Index on a quarterly basis, on the basis of which the rating of banks is updated. The index is calculated for 31 commercial banks, of which: 17 large and 14 small banks.

The study is conducted in order to monitor changes in the share of the private sector in banking assets, assess the effectiveness of reforms and transformation processes in the banking sector.

The growth rate of the total assets of the banking system has slowed down. In 2022-2023, this figure was in the range of 20-30%, compared to 15.4% as of March 1, 2024. The assets of the banking system amounted to 648.6 trillion sums, liabilities – 549.6 trillion sums.

10 state–owned banks account for 67.4% of the assets of the entire banking system, which is almost 437 trillion sums; 70.1% of the loan portfolio – 331.2 trillion sums; 50.7% of deposits – 120.6 trillion sums. The rest of the assets are owned by 25 private banks.

If deposits for 36 sums were attracted in state banks for a loan of 100 sums (39 sums in the same period last year), then in private banks this figure amounted to 83 sums, against 93 sums by last year.

Since the beginning of the year, the growth rate of bank deposits has slowed down. If last year in the Q1, the volume of deposits in the banking system increased by 42%, then in the reporting period this figure was 13%. In addition, the share of foreign currency deposits decreased by 11 percentage points – from 38% to 29%.

The activity of the population in using the banking system has increased significantly. If in the Q1 last year 26.5% of the loan portfolio belonged to individuals, then over the year their share increased by almost 6 percentage points and amounted to 32.1%, and the share of legal entities decreased from 73.5% to 67.9%, respectively.

At the same time, the balance of deposits of individuals increased by 6% and amounted to 36.1%, while legal entities decreased from 70% to 63.9%.

The share of problem loans has increased. During the reporting period, the volume of problem loans (loans deferred for more than 90 days) in the banking system amounted to 20.9 trillion sums, and their share in the total volume of loans amounted to 4.4% against 3.8% in the same period last year.

The capital adequacy indicators of the banking system remained unchanged and exceeded the minimum requirements by 1.3 times.

Among the 17 large banks, four improved their positions. In particular, Xalq Bank rose by two points in the overall rating, three more banks – Asia Alliance Bank, Ipak Yuli Bank, and National Bank – rose one position up.

The next five banks failed to keep their places, losing one position each in the overall standings – these are Aloqa Bank, Ipoteka Bank, Agrobank, Invest Finance Bank and Hamkor Bank.

The remaining eight banks retained their places in the overall rating.

In terms of financial intermediation (the ratio of bank deposits to loans, obligations to banks and the state), National Bank rose from last place to the 16th line of the rating, losing to Uzpromstroy Bank. At the same time, two more banks added one point each – Ipak Yuli Bank and Agrobank, Asaka Bank – plus 2 positions.

In terms of financial accessibility (the number of clients per branch, the concentration of loans and their volume, for the private sector), Orient Finance closes the rating again. Among the banks that lost one point each were Asia Alliance Bank, Ipak Yuli Bank and Uzpromstroy Bank. A sharp decrease in this indicator was shown by Invest Finance Bank – minus 4 points.

On the contrary, Kapitalbank, Aloqa Bank, Xalq Bank, National Bank and Business Development Bank managed to add one point each, and Trast Bank – two.

In terms of asset quality, Ipoteka Bank lost 2 positions and closed the rating. Invest Finance Bank, Orient Finance Bank and Business Development Bank each lost 3 points, Aloqa Bank – another minus 5 positions down.

In terms of profitability (ratio of net interest income to interest expenses, non-interest income) – Ipak Yuli Bank minus one, Invest Finance Bank minus two, Aloqa Bank minus 3 points.

According to the results of the Q1, Kapitalbank and Trast Bank again retained their leadership in the overall rating of large banks. Asia Alliance Bank, rising by 1 point, secured the third place in the rating. Hamkor Bank — 4th place.

Davr Bank took the second place in the rating of small banks, losing the lead to Universal Bank, which showed the best result among small banks – plus two points. TBC Bank, having improved its performance, closes the top three.

Ziraat Bank lost 3 positions, taking the fourth place in the rating. Another bank that significantly worsened its position was Madad Invest Bank - minus four points.

The other banks in this category retained their positions.