TBC Bank aims to expand its microlending business and promote financial inclusion in Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s largest country by population.
The subsidiary of London-listed TBC Group and mobile bank operates via physical and digital channels in Georgia and as a branchless digital bank in Uzbekistan. TBC Group entered Uzbekistan through the acquisition of Payme’s controlling stake in 2019 and launched the digital bank TBC UZ in October 2020 after receiving the full banking licence in May 2020. Payme is a digital payments app for individuals and small businesses and Payme Nasiya (Payme Instalments), is an instalment credit business.
This credit line follows another $10 million credit line, provided by responsAbility Investments AG's Green Climate Partnership Fund (GCPF) to TBC Bank Uzbekistan earlier in 2024 to support environmentally sustainable projects.
TBC Bank Group has the MSCI ESG rating of ‘AA’, the second highest in the scale, and is the recipient of EBRD’s Annual Sustainability Silver Award for environmental and social best practice in 2023. TBC Bank Uzbekistan was also assigned a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of BB- by Fitch Ratings, the same level as the sovereign, which reflects the bank's strong financial health and operational stability.
Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Group operations in Uzbekistan, says: "This credit line from responsAbility is an important part of our strategy to broaden our funding base, and it will help us extend our support to more individuals and their micro enterprises, helping them grow and prosper. We remain committed to fostering financial inclusion and economic growth through innovative financial solutions as we continue to grow our lending volumes and products pipeline, helping expand the availability of accessible modern financial services across Uzbekistan."
Learn more about the latest innovations in the sustainable finance sector at Finextra's annual Sustainable Finance Live conference, taking place on 8 October 2024.