On "February 24, 2025," Safe-Lombard LLC's beneficial owner was added to the UK sanctions list (...) To eliminate the sanctions risks, the company's founder decided to divest his stake in the near future in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan," reported Safe-Lombard on "February 28, 2025." A similar announcement was made shortly thereafter by "Berekete" Microfinance Organization on the same day.
As a reminder, Kim, as the owner of the Russian Expobank, has also been subjected to UK sanctions.
Igor Kim is the beneficial owner of Safe-Lombard LLC with a 98.988% stake as of September 30, 2024. A small package of 1.012% belongs to the chairman of the board, resident Gennady Kim. The company did not specify in what circumstances and to whom it would transfer its stake.
In its announcement, Safe-Lombard stated that the company itself is not included in the UK sanctions list and expects to earn 4.7 billion tenge in 2024. It is noteworthy that this makes it the fourth player among pawnshops, with assets amounting to 30.5 billion tenge as of October 1, 2024. According to the report, Safe-Lombard's authorized capital as of that date was 2.2 billion tenge, equity was 22.9 billion tenge, and total assets reached 30.8 billion tenge. The company has six subsidiaries, four of which operate in Kazakhstan. These include "Cashdrive Ltd," which provides online loans to individuals and legal entities secured by movable property; "Seif Car" LLC, which rents vehicles to individuals; "Cashdrive.kz" microfinance organization; and "Torgay Central Asia" LLC, which sells automotive parts. One subsidiary, "Seif-Finance" LLC, is located in Russia and is engaged in the placement of bonds guaranteed by Safe-Lombard LLC in the RF; another one is in Uzbekistan, known as "Seif Lombard" LLC.
Igor Kim has owned the "Berekete" microfinance organization since the end of 2023 (previously through "Safe-Lombard"). The MFO ranks 28th in the total table of the Naban Bank by sector: its assets amounted to 5.6 billion tenge as of October 1, 2024. According to the company, it currently stands at 5.8 billion tenge, with a projected profit of 0.89 billion tenge for 2024. "Berekete" has a loan portfolio of 5.24 billion tenge, with an NPL90+ ratio of 1.5%, the company assured. In December 2023, Forbes Kazakhstan discussed the owner's plans to convert it into a financial institution.