OREANDA-NEWS. September 24, 2009. Kazkommertsbank (“KKB” or the “Bank”), one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, has allocated KZT 2.4 billion (US15.9 million) of its own resources to extend the Government’s mortgage-refinancing programme. The Bank wants to extend the advantages of the scheme to additional applicants who stood to lose out after the funding allocated to financing of the programme by the National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna had been fully employed, reported the press-centre of Kazkommertsbank.  
 
Thanks to the now completed Government-backed scheme, under which KKB received KZT 24 billion, 5,921 of the Bank’s residential borrowers were able to take advantage of reduced interest rates on their mortgages. The aim of the programme was to reduce the burden of the financial crisis and the devaluation of Kazakh Tenge on certain Kazakh borrowers. Under the programme, the mortgage interest rates of successful applicants were reduced to between 9 percent and 11 percent, with lower-paid state employees benefitting from the largest reductions.
 
By extending the programme, Kazkommertsbank will be able to refinance the mortgages of a further 400 residential borrowers from its own resources under terms similar to those of the Government-backed programme.
 
Mr. AdilBatyrbekov, a member of the KKB Management Board and Head of Risk Management, said:
 
“We are very pleased with the results of the Government-backed mortgage refinancing programme, which has benefited our customers, the Bank and the wider Kazakh economy. Because the programme was significantly oversubscribed, we decided to extend it to include other applicants who complied with the key lending criteria of the programme. The reduced interest rates will help some of our vulnerable borrowers to service their mortgages following the Tenge devaluation that happened earlier this year. We are now considering a full-scale mortgage refinancing programme for the Bank.”