According to the report, Kyrgyzstan has 22 commercial banks, 15 insurance companies, 8 investment funds, 1 stock exchange, 2 pension funds, 418 microfinance organizations, 188 credit unions, 646 pawn shops (known locally as Lombards (!)), 284 exchange offices and 1 specialized loan office.

At the same time concentration level is the following: in the banking system 4 largest banks hold 55.4 percent of the market, 4 largest international financial institutions have 75.6 percent, 4 insurance companies have 46.4 percent.

State-owned banks have a wide network of branches and savings banks, and have good access to domestic and budgetary resources … “But they use them with minimal performance”.

Foreign banks, however, have an advantage in attracting money from parent companies at low interest rates.

Domestic banks accumulate funds of population and enterprises in the republic.

Microfinance organizations, it goes on to say, can be compared with commercial banks based on the size of credit portfolio.

The largest international financial institutions operate on foreign capital rather than domestic funds.

Somewhat surprisingly, the first half of 2012 showed that although the banking sector reported good profits as a whole, (1.24 billion som – that’s about 26 million dollars), some six banks suffered losses. The non-profit institutions recorded 543 million som profit (just over a million dollars); being non-profit organizations, this is channelled back into the system rather than being distributed to shareholders as dividends.