BTA Bank's subsidiary Insurance company London-Almaty (Kazakhstan) informs on operation in 9 months 2009

/KASE, October 30, 09/ - BTA Bank's subsidiary Insurance company London-Almaty (Almaty), common shares of which are listed on Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), provided KASE with the press release dated October 29, 2009: Quotation begins Insurance company London-Almaty released operational results for 9 months of 2009. The volume of collected insurance premiums grew 11 % as compared with the same period last year. The management says the growing trend on the falling market may be explained with redistribution of the company stake on the mandatory insurance market, and active work in Kazakhstan regions. In 9 months of 2009 Insurance company London-Almaty collected insurance premiums for a total of KZT2,239,513,000. As compared with the same period in 2008 the increase is 11 %. According to the company chairman Ergali Begimbetov, the trend is positive for London-Almaty. The significant increase is related largely to a bigger share in the mandatory insurance market. This year insurance fees grew, specifically, those paid by a carrier to passengers, vehicle owners, owners of sites dangerous for third parties. However, the Kazakhstan insurance market started to fall last year. The volume of collected premiums in 9 months of this year for the whole market is KZT104,130,208,000. As compared with the last year (the volume of collected insurance premiums in the same period of the last year for the whole market reached KZT125,137,744,000) the market fell 17 %. The volume of collected insurance premiums declined due to the economical crisis impacting banks and construction, and lower trust to the insurance market on the side of ordinary citizens who had faced unfair practices of insurers. Besides, the situation around the compulsory liquidation of insurance company Altyn Polis, which is a big player on the vehicle insurance market, also, influenced feelings of insurаnts. Many clients of this company incurred losses since the company had not registered their polises with the integrated data bases, which lead to polises being illegitimate. In 2009 London-Almaty started to actively work in regions. Currently, the company has offices in six regions. However, the company faced a number of problems: low qualification of insurance agents, fraud, and poor communications connection. In particular, the Internet access is a key factor for entries to the unified insurance data base. "Registration of large information data on-line, in accordance with the legislation, takes much effort, - says Begimbetov. - This requirement can not be met in a number of regions because of poor Internet connection". London-Almaty is intending to further develop retail insurance. At the time being the company has offices in different regions. Next year it is planned to increase presence in other regions. The company sees it can prosper in future enhancing client service quality, perfecting business-processes, and minimizing losses. The company is actively promoting insurance culture in the media. Contact: Olesya Gordienco PR and Marketing Insurance company London-Almaty Tel.: +7 (727) 311 07 77, +7 (777) 270 17 91 o.gordienko@laic.kz Taissa Kanunnikova Tayniy Sovetnik Ogilvy PR - Press Service of London-Almaty Tel.: +7 (727) 2 609 940 taissa.kanunnikova@ogilvypr.kz Ends [2009-10-30]