After a decade of financial turmoil, Kazakhstan is looking to the head of its largest lender to restore the banking system to health.
Umut Shayakhmetova, the 48-year-old chief executive officer of Halyk Bank, is weighing the lender’s first dividend since 2015. The potential payout is a sign of stabilization in the banking system after years of turmoil culminated in Halyk being drafted in to recapitalize its main competitor, Kazkommertsbank. Following the purchase, for a symbolic sum, Halyk shoveled the bad debt of its new acquisition into a special-purpose state fund.
