HSBC sells Kazakh subsidiary: The Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan – whose main shareholder is the Almex holding company which is controlled by President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s daughter Dinara and her husband Timur Kulibayev – last week completed the acquisition of the HSBC Bank Kazakhstan and has renamed it the Altyn Bank. The newly rebranded bank will operate as a separate legal entity and will continue to offer a range of services to foreign companies operating in Kazakhstan including payroll, loans and mortgages. It also plans to develop both private banking and Internet banking. Altyn Bank is Kazakhstan’s 18th largest financial institution in terms of assets, while the Halyk Bank is the country’s largest retail bank. News.kaz