Asakabank
The 25th year of Asakabank’s existence did not go as planned. As Covid-19 slammed global growth, Uzbekistan’s second-largest bank found itself in crisis-management mode rather than busy making deals.
But kudos to chairman Nodirbek Saydullaev and his team for making a go of such a chaotic year in the financial markets. Asaka topped up assets to roughly $4.3 billion by January – up from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
Granted, that increase of almost 14% looks tepid when you compare it with average asset growth of 63% a year between 2016 and 2018. But in a year in which the US, Europe and Japan all stumbled and China had its slowest growth in three decades, Asaka shareholders have little cause for complaint.
Saydullaev is a study in understatement when explaining the secret of Asaka’s success in volatile times. “The rapid pace of modern life puts forward new requirements for banks in Uzbekistan,” he says. “It is necessary to constantly expand the range of services and improve the quality of service.”
Expanded it has.