OREANDA-NEWS. On 05 February 2009 was announced, that citing mounting concerns over the state of Kazakhstan’s economy in the last three months, the government of Kazakhstan has announced that it has accepted the recommendation by the Agency on Regulation and Supervision of Financial Market and Financial Organisations (FSA) that the former should acquire a controlling interest in JSC BTA Bank.

The acquisition is to be done by issuing an extra 29,915,425 common shares at KZT 8,401 a share. The entire issue is to be purchased by the government as represented by the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund. As a result, the bank will receive KZT 251,319,485,425 of extra capital.

According to officials, BTA Bank as a systemic financial institution will continue receiving full backing from the government. Arman Dunayev, Samruk-Kazyna’s Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, had this to say on the subject: "We will continue providing our support to BTA, which has systemic importance for Kazakhstan and is a major lender to the non-commodity sector. It is our job to make sure that BTA is part of every government programme".

Mr. Dunayev has been appointed member of the Board of Directors. In another change, former Governor of the National Bank Anwar Saidenov has been appointed Adviser to BTA Chairman of the Management Board Roman Solodchenko.

Any change in ownership notwithstanding, BTA Bank continues to operate with full legal and operational continuity, including, among other things, honouring all of its obligations, lending to the public and economy, servicing of customer accounts, and taking and paying out on retail and corporate deposits.

The shareholders and management of BTA are committed to preserving BTA’s status of the domestic banking leader and enabling its further growth.

As a liquid financial institution, BTA remains a solid and responsible partner to the government, BTA customers and foreign financial institutions alike.