Bereke Bank takes a British banker onboard once again

David Brown, a British citizen, has rejoined the board of directors of Bereke Bank, which he left at the beginning of the year, according to a statement from the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) available on its website. The governing body of the credit institution, which was sold to the Qatari Lesha Bank last year, consists of four members.

Brown first joined the board of directors of Bereke Bank in December 2024, shortly after the sale of the credit institution from state-owned Baiterek Holding to Lesha Bank, an investment bank based in Qatar. However, in April, he was removed from the board. Bereke Bank has not disclosed the reason for his reappointment, nor for previous staffing changes in recent months.

In addition to Brown, the bank’s board of directors includes Piotr Kaczmarek, Nasser Al-Sharif and Andrey Timchenko, the board chairman.

Although Brown built his career in American and European investment banks, he also worked in global divisions of Russia’s VTB, as well as in Alfa Bank in both Russia and Kazakhstan. Until recently, he held the position of CEO at Oman Investment Bank. It is unclear whether he still holds that post.

In October last year, the deal to sell Bereke Bank — formerly known as Sberbank Kazakhstan — to Qatari Lesha Bank was completed. Baiterek, which acquired the asset after Russian Sberbank exited Kazakhstan, received 65 billion tenge (approximately $127.6 million, or 40% of the bank’s capital at that time). Many experts called the sale price undervalued. In the first quarter, Lesha Bank reported a net profit of 40.5 million Qatari riyals ($11.1 million), a 41% year-on-year increase.