BTA Bank: Press Release for Investors

ALMATY, Kazakhstan - JSC BTA Bank has received notices from several creditors accelerating by reason of default the indebtedness owed to those creditors.

BTA Bank has consistently maintained that it will treat creditors equally and has stated that it will only pay scheduled maturities. As a result of these accelerations, the Bank has decided (in order to continue to treat all of its creditors equally) to cease all principal payments (including scheduled maturities) with effect from Monday 20th April until it agrees and implements, working together with all of its creditors and investors, a reasonable, transparent and efficient programme for managing its current debt position.

BTA Bank intends to continue to service its financial obligations by paying interest as and when it falls due and such other payments as are strategically important to maintain the successful operation of the Bank’s business.

Accordingly, BTA Bank wishes to inform its customers and depositors that it continues to operate as normal and all transactions are being completed on a timely basis and in the usual manner.

BTA Bank is committed to continue working as efficiently and co-operatively as possible with its creditors. Anvar G. Saidenov, Chairman of the Board of BTA Bank commented: “Events of recent days have forced our hand in relation to our international creditors. Once one of them accelerated, that gives the others the right to accelerate and there is no way we could consider repaying all our foreign debt at once. For that reason we have, as announced, imposed a standstill on principal payments of our financial debt.”

Samruk-Kazyna, as the principal shareholder of BTA Bank, continues to be supportive of the operations of the BTA Group whilst BTA Bank and its independent financial and legal advisers review the current position of the BTA Group in order to assist BTA Bank in formulating a restructuring plan for the BTA Group.

There will be follow up communication next week. Details on timing will be provided in due course.

Sincerely yours, BTA Bank

Editor’s Notes: BTA Group is a leading banking network in the CIS. The network of BTA’s partner banks extends to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. BTA’s representative offices operate in Russia, Ukraine, China, UAE and the UK. The bank has one of the largest branch networks in Kazakhstan (22 branches with 279 service locations) along with an extensive chain of ATMs (787) and self-service terminals (160). BTA serves about 1.3 million retail and 150,000 corporate customers.

For media contacts: Ben Lock / Katharina Winkler Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Tel: +44-207-309 1003 / 1027 E-mail: ben.lock @uk.ogilvypr.com / katharina.winkler@uk.ogilvypr.com

Source: BTA Bank

For media contacts: Ben Lock / Katharina Winkler Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Tel: +44-207-309 1003 / 1027 E-mail: ben.lock at uk.ogilvypr.com / katharina.winkler at uk.ogilvypr.com