ALMATY. July 4 (Interfax) – Arif Babayev, a Kazakh investor, bought Ukraine-based Region-Bank, which has been renamed Sky Bank, the bank says in a press release.
“We are going to make large investment in IT systems and take a more careful approach to lending. We have a sufficiently sized liquidity cushion, which will strongly support our operations,” Babayev is quoted as saying.
Babayev is a Kazakh entrepreneur with many years of experience in the banking sector. In 2013-2016, he worked as managing director at Kazkommertsbank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan. As at May 31, 2017 Babayev owned a 99.09% stake in Ukraine-based Sky Bank.
The acquisition of Region-Bank started in December 2016 when Babayev bought a 53.54% from Anatoly Voloka, a Ukrainian businessman and the president of the Kharkiv Banking Union.
