Azeris Shut 4 Banks in Week After Imposing Capital Controls
- Authorities close almost tenth of all banks amid currency rout
- Central bank governor sees `healthier' industry after cleanup
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Azerbaijan shuttered almost a tenth of the nation’s lenders in the past week as authorities struggle to restore trust in the national currency after imposing capital controls and devaluing the manat twice last year.
The regulator in the capital, Baku, said there’ll be more closures to come after revoking the licenses of privately owned United Credit Bank and NBC Bank for failing to comply with a minimum capital requirement of 50 million manat ($30.7 million). The lenders couldn’t meet their obligations to creditors and their management wasn’t “reliable or prudential,” the central bank said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. The cleanup has left Azerbaijan with 39 banks.