The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) has extended the terms of powers of the crisis administration introduced in Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Tojik Sodirot Bonk (TSB) for one more month.

A statement released by Tajik central bank on November 18 notes the measure aims to provide a full-fledged rehabilitation of the bank.    

Recall, the NBT sidelined TSB president and six of his deputies from the bank and installed a temporary crisis administration on May 18, 2016.   

Simultaneously with this, representatives of the temporary crisis administration were appointed in five regional branches of the bank in Qurghon Teppa (Khatlon), Kulob (Khatlon), Khorog (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region), Rasht (district subordinate to the center), and Khujand (Sughd).

In March this year, TSB said service interruptions–resulting in customers signing up for waiting lists to withdraw their cash–were due to technical difficulties in implementing a new processing system. EurasiaNet.org reported, however, that “TSB’s cash dispensers are running dry.” People whose salaries were transferred through the bank had not been paid for three months.

TSB, which is Tajikistan’s second largest lender, was established in December 1990 as the Tajik branch of the Vnesh Econom Bank of the former Soviet Union, and it initially specialized in trade and import-export banking.  Later this branch was reorganized into a Joint-Stock Commercial Bank “Tajikvnesheconombank”.  In June 1999 the bank was renamed and registered as Tojik Sodirot Bonk or TSB.

Headquartered in Dushanbe, TSB has 12 branches in the main cities of Tajikistan and covering all regions of the country.