JSCB "Kapitalbank" enters the capital market with corporate bonds denominated in US dollars: a 7% annual coupon with quarterly payments. The Uzbek bank is raising foreign currency financing for approximately two years, while investors receive regular income in dollars.
For bondholders, this is a way to lock in foreign currency yield and reduce dependence on fluctuations in the som exchange rate. The key risk is the absence of collateral: if the issuer runs into problems, investors will be able to rely only on its solvency.
Issue terms and placement procedure
The decision to issue was made on October 29, 2026, at an extraordinary general meeting in Tashkent. In total, "Kapitalbank" will place 500,000 registered bonds with a nominal value of $100 each — the total issue volume is $50 million.
Coupon income is paid once every three months, with a total of eight coupon periods envisaged. The circulation period of the securities is 731 days from the start of circulation, and no collateral is provided for them.
The placement will take place through an open subscription within a year after the state registration of the issue. Transactions will be concluded on the organized securities market according to the rules of the trading organizer, and the underwriter (placement organizer) will be the investment intermediary Kapital Securities LLC.
Payment and redemption will be carried out in US dollars in non-cash form. Settlements will be conducted according to the rules for transactions with securities in foreign currency within the framework of the special legal regime "Regulatory Sandbox," where new financial instruments are being tested.
How Uzbekistan's capital market is changing
Companies in Uzbekistan are already actively borrowing through bonds: in September, issues worth 358 billion som and $90 million were registered. Some of the securities in the national currency were placed by microfinance organizations, so Kapitalbank's dollar issue will expand the choice for those who want to protect their savings from exchange rate fluctuations.
Investors choosing between fixed and floating yields may soon be offered an alternative: the Central Bank of Uzbekistan and the IMF are discussing the issuance of government securities with a coupon tied to UZONIA — the average rate on loans that banks extend to each other. Unlike Kapitalbank's fixed 7%, the yield on such bonds will rise along with rates, but will also decline along with them.
Cryptalist analysis: The issue demonstrates the maturity of Uzbekistan's local debt market and growing demand for fixed-income foreign currency instruments amid devaluation expectations for the som. The absence of collateral and the relatively short two-year term shift the risk assessment toward the issuer's credit quality rather than market conditions. The emergence of a UZONIA link could intensify competition for capital between fixed-rate corporate and floating-rate government securities.