OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has published its Kazakh Banks Datawatch 3Q15, consisting of key data from banks' regulatory financial statements and disclosures sourced primarily from the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KSE). The 3Q15 report consists of data in PDF and Excel formats, charts and Fitch commentary, and covers 27 of the sector's 35 banks, comprising 99% of the system assets.

In the report, Fitch notes the moderate direct impact on banks from the tenge devaluation in August but highlights the more significant long-term implications combined with possible challenges suggested by some of the proposed regulatory changes.

Capital ratios moderately declined across the sector as a result of the devaluation impact on risk-weighted assets partially offset by related derivative gains. A relaxation of the regulatory capitalisation rules by the NBK in 3Q15 has provided some breathing space for a number of large banks, which were approaching the regulatory capital minimums. However, many banks could find it challenging to comply with a revised non-performing loan definition that is planned to take effect from 2017, in view of asset quality risks stemming from exposures to foreign-currency lending, which comprise about half of total sector loans.

The recent NBK repo rate rise to 17% from 12% will likely have a limited direct impact on most banks given the small repo volumes and interbank market and sizeable liquidity buffers across the sector. Devaluation did not hurt deposit stability in 3Q15, partly due to a local-currency deposit compensation scheme launched by the authorities. The robust liquidity profiles of most banks, stable deposits and limited short-term debt will likely help them meet proposed NSFR and LCR introduction in 2017.

The report is available at www.fitchratings.com.