The international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service assigned long-term ratings B1 to JSC “First Heartland Jusan Bank” (Jusan Bank) for its deposits in the national and foreign currencies. The outlook is stable.
Moody’s noted that the ratings indicate a very high level of the bank’s liquid assets and a strong capital base. So, its pool of liquid assets is about 60 percent of the total consolidated assets, whereas relation of capital to assets, weighted against the risks, is around 29 percent, which is 4 times higher than the regulatory minimum. The ratings are also indicative of Jusan Bank’s substantial size within Kazakhstan’s banking sector, with its market share reaching around 9 percent by assets as of April 1, 2021, taking into consideration the acquisition of ATF Bank.
“The Moody’s rating is an unbiased recognition of Jusan Bank’s current strong financial standing, which was achieved due to the two key factors. Firstly, we have carried out an enormous job to revive inherited Tsesnabank’s troubled portfolio through debt collections, restructuring of potentially earning assets and refinancing of the loan portfolio by other banks. All credits with signs of fraud have been submitted to the law enforcement agencies.
Secondly, in accordance with Jusan Bank new development strategy, we have created an ecosystem of digital financial services based on three technological platforms: Jusan Retail, Jusan Business and Jusan Private Banking,” Aibek Kayip, Chairman of the Management Board of Jusan Bank, said.
“So, the new Jusan mobile application has been downloaded more than one million times within just a year. Jusan app becomes increasingly popular and actively used by over half a million of users. It includes JMart marketplace offering 200 thousand commodities and services, a unique online service Jusan Investments, as well as Jusan Insurance and Jusan Mobile services.
The number of Jusan Bank’s SME client base is expected to exceed 140 thousand upon acquisition of ATF Bank. They have also been provided with the new Internet banking with sophisticated user-friendly digital solutions. As for Jusan Investments, according to the 2020 results, the number of clients of this service has tripled compared to 2019.
All these projects came live due to the colossal efforts of the entire Bank team, ensured high financial and business performance and resulted in high increase of the clients’ base and great profits.”
At present, Jusan Bank complies with all prudential requirements and has a high stability margin: according to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, as of May 1, 2021, the capital adequacy ratio (k1) of Jusan Bank was 31.5 percent, hence, it exceeded the statutory requirements by over 4 times. The absolute liquid ratio (k4) was over 13 times higher than the statutory requirements and reached 399.8 percent.
Moody’s analysts believe that stable outlook for the rating is indicative of sound credit strength of Jusan Bank due to its high liquidity and capital adequacy for the forthcoming 12–18 months.
When assigning the rating, the agency’s opinion was based on a comprehensive assessment of the key current performance indicators of Jusan Bank, it also considered acquisition of the ATF Bank, upon completion of which it is expected that by the end of this year Jusan Bank will become one of the three largest banks in Kazakhstan by assets.