Best bank
Kazkommertsbank
Best debt house
Citigroup
Best local partner Bank
TuranAlem
Kazkommertsbank (KKB) is the clear leader in Kazakh banking, ranking number one in operating income, net income and net interest revenue in 2003. Its net income in 2003, $64 million, was twice that of its nearest rival, Bank TuranAlem.
The bank has always been the first to do things in the country ? the first to issue a Eurobond, the first to issue an unsecured loan, and in the past 12 months it continued with two new firsts, becoming the first Kazakh bank to buy a Russian bank, and becoming the first CIS bank to issue subordinated debt.
It has acquired a strategic stake in Moskommertsbank, a bank that previously represented Kazakh interests in Moscow. The move represents a wider move by Kazakh banks into Russian banking, with other banks such as Nurbank also opening representative offices in Moscow recently. KKB has started to arrange large loans for Russian companies, such as $30 million of funding for mobile company Megafon, arranged in June 2004.
In April 2004, during a time of volatility for emerging-market debt, the bank showed its credit strength by issuing $500 million in debt in two tranches over three days.