Tajikistan’s largest commercial banks – Tojik Sodirot Bonk (TSB) and Agroinvestbonk -- will hardly recover from recent shocks quickly.  It will take them years to restore their financial assets.

Two other distressed banks – Tajrpombank and Fononbank – have been declared bankrupt.  Recall, Tajik central bank announced in February that it pulled Tajrpombank and Fononbank.

Until recently TSB and Agroinvestbonk have occupied a half of the country’s banking market.  They were first among the Tajik commercial banks to be listed among 200 largest banks of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 2015.

As of January 1, 2016, Agorinvestbonk’s assets were estimated at 550 million U.S. dollars, which amounted to 22 percent of all assets of the country’s banking system.

The list of assets of Agroinvestbonk includes more than 730 properties located in various regions of the country, including the bank headquarters in Dushanbe, main branches in Khorog, Khujand, Kulob and Qurghon Teppa, 60 other branches across the country and five service centers.  Besides, the bank possesses resort zones in Varzob district, small enterprises, farming units, shopping centers, shops, cafes, drugstores, refueling stations, service stations, warehouses, consumer service centers, and many apartments and residential buildings.

As of January 1, 2016, assets of TSB amounted to 530 million Somoni, approximately 20 percent of all assets of Tajikistan’s banking system.

Assets on TSB’s books reportedly include the bank headquarters in Dushanbe, 43 branches across the country, Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) Dushanbe Moll (Tajikistan’s largest shopping mall, which is home to the country's first ever hypermarket to be part of the French Auchan chain), Tajikistan Hotel in Dushanbe, eight nine-story apartment buildings in Danghara district (Khatlon province), spinning mills in Danghara and Farkhor districts (Khatlon province), cotton ginneries in Khatlon province, and auto-repair enterprise.

Niches of these banks in the country’s banking market are being aggressively occupied by “novices” being close to the country’s authorities…