Discussions about the devaluation of the tenge have significantly subsided recently. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev publicly stated that there will be no sharp changes in the exchange rate of the Kazakh currency in 2015. In addition, there is a likelihood of introducing a tenge guarantee, actively promoted by economist Olzhas Khudaibergenov. The correspondent of Nur.kz reviewed deposits for those who decided to convert their savings back from dollars to tenge.
Due to the reduced volume of tenge liquidity in Kazakhstan, banks have actively started attracting money from the population. Most have set the maximum deposit reward rate at 10% (or 10.5% effective). However, such types of deposits do not always allow partial withdrawals, which are sometimes necessary for profitable purchases or other urgent expenses where it is necessary to withdraw the maximum possible from the deposit account.
Therefore, the three main rating criteria are the reward rate, the possibility of partial withdrawals, and the size of the minimum balance (the lower, the better). The table is compiled based on official information from the websites of Kazakhstani BVB, which have clearly stated the deposit conditions.
First place in the ranking is taken by 'Nurbank' with the 'Optimal' deposit. Its conditions can be called the simplest and most honest: the maximum reward rate and a low minimum balance (5000 tenge). If the deposit has been kept for more than 31 days, and then its owner decides to withdraw funds, they will receive a reward for each day the deposit was actually held.
The second place is held by 'AsiaCredit Bank' with the 'Best Choice' deposit. The reward rate and the minimum balance are the same as in 'Nurbank'. However, if the owner decides to withdraw funds early, the reward is given not for each day, but only for each full month of the deposit's 'work'.
Example: if the depositor decides to withdraw money 50 days after opening the deposit, in 'AsiaCredit Bank' they will receive a reward for 30 days (full month), while in 'Nurbank' – for all 50 days.
The third place is held by the 'Turbo' deposit from 'Eurasian Bank'. It also has the maximum reward rate, but the minimum balance is slightly higher – 7000 tenge. However, the bank gives a card with the CashBack function. Its essence is that when paying with this card, the bank returns 0.5% of the transaction amount to the account. For example, if you buy furniture for 100 thousand tenge with the card, the bank returns 500 tenge to your account. It’s a small amount, but pleasant. And with a higher volume of electronic payments, the compensation is, respectively, more.
The fourth place went to 'Sberbank' with the 'Increase' deposit. The maximum reward rate, and the minimum balance is now 15 thousand tenge. Note that the deposit in 'Sberbank' is calculated for a minimum of 36 months.
The fifth position is occupied by 'Bank CenterCredit'. Also the maximum reward rate, the minimum balance increases to 40 thousand tenge.
The sixth place is held by ATF. It has the same conditions as BCC (EIR – 10.5%, minimum balance – 40 thousand tenge). However, ATF is lower in the ranking because BCC states that the reward is calculated for the actual number of days the deposit is held, while ATF does not specify this point, which allows us to assume that the interest may be calculated only for full months without breaking down into days.
The list of banks with maximum reward rates is closed by 'Narodny' with the 'Universal' deposit. It has a minimum balance 15 times greater than that of the leader – 75 thousand tenge. Although the EIR in the deposit conditions is listed as higher than the others (10.6%), such a figure is doubtful. BVB are not entitled to set deposit rates above the ceiling established by the National Bank. Therefore, there is no reason to 'trust' the extra tenth of a percent, especially since it is not specified where it comes from in the conditions.
Places from eighth to eleventh are distributed solely based on the size of the decreasing EIR: 'Alfa Bank' – 9.5%, VTB – 9.4%, 'Kazkom' – 8.8%, and 'Tsesnabank' – 7.2%.