Uzbek central bank suspends 9 local banks from foreign currency trading

TASHKENT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan's central bank said on Wednesday that it has temporarily suspended nine commercial banks from foreign exchange trading for their violations related to stock exchange deals.

"Due to systematic irregularities related to stock exchange deals a number of commercial banks are temporarily suspended from participating in tenders until clarification of the circumstances," the bank said in a statement.

The central bank listed the nine banks but gave no further details.

The same banks were previously subject to sanctions due to violations of the currency legislation and were fined 2.5 billion Uzbek soums (about 298,000 U.S. dollars) in 2018 and 2019, according to the central bank.