TBC Bank Group (LON:TBCG) reported what management described as a record fourth quarter to close out 2025, with full-year net profit exceeding GEL 1.4 billion, up 9% year-over-year, and return on equity (ROE) of 24.2%. In the final quarter, the group delivered nearly GEL 390 million in net profit (GEL 387 million cited by the CFO), up 16% year-over-year, with ROE reaching 24.9%.
Group CEO Vakhtang Butskhrikidze said the quarter was “excellent” for the core Georgian franchise, with net profit up 15% year-over-year and ROE of 25.7%, supported by “robust loan growth and net interest margin and low cost of risk and strong cost controls.” Results in Uzbekistan were “more mixed,” he said, as regulatory changes led to a slight contraction in lending during the quarter, weighing on revenue and earnings.
Dividend and capital return
Group CFO Giorgi Megrelishvili added that the full-year dividend implies a payout ratio of 35%. He also noted the company completed a GEL 75 million buyback, and said that, together with the dividend, the group returned 40% of capital back to shareholders.
Profitability drivers: revenue growth, stable margins, cost discipline
Megrelishvili said fourth-quarter top-line revenue rose 15% year-over-year, driven primarily by a 23% increase in net interest income. Non-interest income was flat in the quarter, which he attributed mainly to unusually high foreign-exchange revenues in the prior-year quarter. For the full year, he said top line grew 20% year-over-year, supported by both net interest income and fee and commission income.
Net interest margin (NIM) remained at 7% in the fourth quarter, “broadly stable” versus the previous quarter, according to the CFO. He said Georgian NIM stood at 6% and “held its ground,” while full-year group NIM increased by 30 basis points, mainly due to a higher share of TBC Uzbekistan in the portfolio.
On costs, the CFO pointed to what he described as contained operating expense growth. He said fourth-quarter operating expenses increased 10% year-over-year and rose 18% for the full year, translating into a lower cost-to-income ratio. The full-year cost-to-income ratio finished at 37.5%, down 40 basis points.
Asked during Q&A about operating expenses being comparatively subdued in the fourth quarter, Megrelishvili said cost management was deliberate and that the group “spread our cost throughout the year,” describing the outcome as evidence of “strong control of the cost.”
Credit quality and cost of risk
Megrelishvili said the group’s cost of risk declined by 50 basis points to 1.1%, with decreases in both Georgia and Uzbekistan. In Georgia, he said cost of risk was below the bank’s normalized level, supported by model recalibration and higher recoveries. Looking to 2026, he said Georgia’s cost of risk is expected to be at the lower end of the normalized range, “around 80 basis points.”
In Uzbekistan, Head of International Business Oliver Hughes acknowledged that non-performing loans “ticked up throughout the year,” but said the cost of risk trajectory had been communicated previously: it “topped out” in the second and third quarters and began to come down in the fourth quarter. Hughes attributed the earlier rise to tests in newer “thin file” lending segments that began maturing in 2025. He cautioned that some volatility remains, including seasonal effects that can pressure first-quarter performance, but reiterated the company’s guided corridor of 7% to 10% for Uzbekistan’s cost of risk.
Georgia: strong macro backdrop and retail momentum
Butskhrikidze said Georgia’s economy remained strong, with real GDP growth of 7.5% in 2025. While the company expects growth to “normalize,” he said forecasts from international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank still imply around 5% growth in 2026. He noted inflation was slightly above the National Bank of Georgia’s 3% target, driven by base effects and food price pressures, but said he expects the central bank to resume rate cuts as inflation trends down.
Operationally, management highlighted several developments in Georgia during 2025, including nearly 1 million TBC daily banking cards in issuance, a doubling of retail brokerage customers to more than 100,000, and 50% growth in the “TBC Concept” affluent offering. The CEO also cited AI-related initiatives, including a mobile app chatbot launched in September that was already handling more than 100,000 iterations per month with a 50% “offloading rate.”
On balance sheet trends in Georgia, the CEO said gross loans rose 11% year-over-year, with cash loans increasing 36% as a key focus area. Deposits increased 12% year-over-year. He also said digital engagement improved after bringing the core banking technology platform in-house, with more than 250,000 customers added during the year (24% growth) and a 47% DAU-to-MAU ratio. In Q&A, management declined to provide additional detail on the longer-term opportunity in cash loans ahead of the company’s upcoming Strategy Day.
Uzbekistan: scale-up progress amid regulatory shifts
In Uzbekistan, Butskhrikidze said the economy remained “highly dynamic,” with 7.7% real GDP growth in 2025 and inflation declining to 7.3% in December. He noted that seasonally adjusted annualized monthly inflation was below the central bank’s 5% target, which management believes could enable interest rate cuts.
Despite the fourth-quarter slowdown linked to regulation, management said 2025 showed significant scale-up progress in Uzbekistan, including 45% loan growth year-over-year, 67% revenue growth, and daily banking engagement metrics that included roughly 1 million Salom cards issued and digital monthly active users topping 6 million. Additional milestones cited included over 130,000 business loans issued, payment volumes rising more than 60% year-over-year to $9.2 billion, and 600,000 Payme Plus subscribers. Management also said the Billz acquisition provides access to more than 3,000 retail merchants processing over $1.4 billion of transactions.
Hughes provided more detail on the regulatory backdrop, explaining that the Uzbek central bank capped portfolio shares for various unsecured asset classes, including microloans and credit cards, and introduced new risk weights tied to portfolio shares effective July 1. He said the group is “pivoting” its Uzbekistan loan mix by running off instant cash loans (microloans) on the bank balance sheet while scaling up credit cards and business loans, and launching secured loans beginning with auto loans in the second to third quarter timeframe. He said the loan book may be flat to down in the first half, with growth returning in the second half, and he indicated an expectation of around 20% (or more) gross loan book growth for the year.
In a follow-up question, Hughes said the bank’s microloan share had declined to about 70% by year-end from over 90% at the beginning of the year, and management is aiming to bring that below 50% by the end of the year as it works toward the regulator’s longer-term 25% target by January 1, 2029. He also said microloans have restarted on the microfinance organization balance sheet, which could contribute to consolidated growth outside the bank’s balance sheet.
Management said Uzbekistan contributed 9% of group net profit and 20% of total operating income in 2025, and that TBC had become a top 10 bank in the country for both retail loans and deposits, with market shares of 4.2% and 3.8%, respectively.
Management updates and Strategy Day
Butskhrikidze said he will focus fully on his role as group CEO, including overseeing Georgia and Uzbekistan and exploring international opportunities. He said Giorgi Tkhelidze, currently deputy CEO and head of CIB and Wealth Management, is set to become CEO of the Georgian subsidiary (JSC TBC Bank) effective March 1, subject to regulatory approval.
The company also reiterated that it will host a Strategy Day in New York on Tuesday, February 21, with a live webcast available for those not attending in person.
About TBC Bank Group (LON:TBCG)
TBC Bank Group PLC (“TBC PLC”) is a public limited company registered in England and Wales. TBC PLC is the parent company of JSC TBC Bank (“TBC Bank”) and a group of companies that principally operate in Georgia in the financial sector. TBC Bank, together with its subsidiaries, is a leading universal banking group in Georgia. TBC PLC also offers non-financial services via TNET, the largest digital ecosystem in Georgia. Since 2019, TBC PLC has expanded its operations into Uzbekistan by operating fast growing retail digital financial services in the country.
