The U.S. Treasury Department will remove sanctions from Bereke Bank, the former subsidiary bank of the Russian “Sber” in Kazakhstan. This is because the mentioned financial organization now belongs to the Kazakhstani company and it is not managed by the Russian “Sber”. The Wall Street Journal wrote about it.
The decision to remove the bank from the sanctions list will take effect on March 6.
According to the US Department of the Treasury, Sber’s former subsidiary bank in Kazakhstan is now one of the largest financial institutions in Kazakhstan and plays an important role in the country’s financial sector.
In September of last year, the US Finance Ministry received a request from the owner of the bank in Kazakhstan – “Baiterek” holding – to remove the institution from the sanctions list. According to the US Treasury Department, Bereke Bank also said it will not engage in sanctioned activity and will provide appropriate information to the US Congress if required.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Western countries imposed sanctions on a number of Russian financial organizations. The sanction also included the former subsidiary bank of the Russian “Sber” in Kazakhstan. Last year, on September 1, the Kazakhstan government institute bought the subsidiary company of “Baiterek” holding “Sber”.
Experts assessed this as a political agreement made to save the bank under sanctions.
In June, when the news spread that the holding company would buy the sanctioned bank, the authorities reported that the Kazakh “Sberbank” had deposits of individuals and legal entities worth about 350 billion tenge (about 800 million dollars at the exchange rate at that time). The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market said that sanctions may be imposed on Kazakhstan “Sber” after the change of the bank’s owner.
After the war in Ukraine, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on major Russian banks. Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank are among the restricted financial organizations. They had branches in Kazakhstan.
In May of last year, the Kazakh “Bank CenterCredit” bought the subsidiary company of the Russian “Alfa-Bank” in Kazakhstan. After that, the name of “Alfa-Bank” in Kazakhstan was officially changed to Eco Center Bank.
Source: azattyq