Agroinvestbank
{{Short description|Bank in Tajikistan}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Agroinvestbank
| logo = Agroinvestbank logo.png
| type = Private/Cooperative
| defunct = {{End date|2021|05|21}}
| location = Dushanbe, Tajikistan
| homepage = {{URL|http://www.agroinvestbank.tj}}
| industry = Banking
}}
OJSC Agroinvestbank ({{langx|tg|ҶСК “Агроинвестбонк”}}) was the second-largest commercial bank in Tajikistan. The bank had been led by chairman Murodali Alimardon since April 1, 2015, who was the former deputy prime minister of Tajikistan.{{cite web |title=Murodali Alimardon: Chairman of the bank |url=http://www.agroinvestbank.tj/en/management/murodali-alimardon.php |website=www.agroinvestbank.tj |access-date=15 October 2022}} It was initially known as the Tajik Agroindustrial Bank, and then as Shark up until 2002.{{cite web |title=The history of the bank |url=http://www.agroinvestbank.tj/en/about-ojsc-agroinvestbank/index.php |website=www.agroinvestbank.tj |access-date=16 October 2022}} It was liquidated in 2021.
The bank has faced allegations in the past of being corrupt, for example with allegations that the employees of the bank helped a person borrow huge amounts of money, even though his companies were liquidated.{{cite news |last1=Ашӯров |first1=Абдулло |title=СБП тавсия дод, ки "Агроинвестбонк"-ро барҳам диҳанд ва пули муштариҳоро баргардонанд |url=https://www.ozodi.org/a/imf-asks-Tajikistan-call-bankrupt-agroinvestbank-/29422631.html |access-date=13 September 2024 |work=Радиои Озодӣ |date=10 August 2018 |language=tg}}
History
After the end of the Tajikistani Civil War, the Tajik government which was in debt entered a sovereign debt agreement where they channeled their loans to the Agroinvestbank for cotton purveyor Paul Reinhart of Credit Suisse First Boston.{{cite thesis |last=Kassam |first=Shinan |date=2011 |title=One explanation for why farmers produce cotton collectively in post-Soviet Tajikistan |type=PhD |chapter= Stage 1: Sovereign debt agreement |publisher=University of British Columbia |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0105114 |access-date=15 October 2022}}{{rp|30}} Thus, the bank became heavily invested in cotton production. In the early 2000s, the bank's loan portfolio mostly consisted of cotton producers, which were 90% of the portfolio and 11% of their total GDP.{{cite report |date=January 2003 |title=Republic of Tajikistan: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2016/12/30/Republic-of-Tajikistan-Selected-Issues-and-Statistical-Appendix-16263| publisher=IMF |page=9 |access-date=15 October 2022 |quote=As of June 2002, about 90 percent of AIB's loan portfolio (11 percent of GDP) was to cotton producers.}} However, due to falling cotton costs, the government pressured the bank into splitting in two. The first of these is with Kreditinvest, an asset management company, which garnered the liabilities and the second was Agroinvestbank which was the commercial bank.{{rp|33}}
In 2009, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development acquired a 25% stake in the company with 1 share for $12 million.{{cite web |title=EBRD becomes shareholder in Tajikistan's Agroinvestbank |url=https://www.ebrd.com/news/2009/ebrd-becomes-shareholder-in-tajikistans-agroinvestbank.html |website=www.ebrd.com |access-date=15 October 2022 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Olcott |first1=Martha Brill |title=Tajikistan's Difficult Development Path |date=27 November 2012 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |isbn=978-0-87003-303-2 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AuVCwAAQBAJ |access-date=16 October 2022 |language=en}} Amid a banking crisis in December 2016, the bank was bailed out by the government along with others for $490 million to avoid bankruptcy.{{cite news |title=Tajikistan announces $490 mln bank bailout |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/tajikistan-banks-idUSL5N1EG4G1 |access-date=15 October 2022 |work=Reuters |date=21 December 2016 |language=en}}
On May 21, 2021, the license of the bank was revoked by the National Bank of Tajikistan following its liquidation.{{cite news |last1=Ibragimova |first1=Kamila |title=Tajikistan: Long-struggling banks finally liquidated |url=https://eurasianet.org/tajikistan-long-struggling-banks-finally-liquidated |access-date=15 October 2022 |work=eurasianet.org |date=May 24, 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Credit organizations in the stage of liquidation on grounds of bankruptcy |url=https://nbt.tj/en/banking_system/tashkilothoi_karzii_dar_holati_barhamdi_karordoshta.php |website=nbt.tj |access-date=13 September 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.agroinvestbank.tj Official website]
{{Banks in Tajikistan}}
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