London-listed, Georgia-headquartered TBC Bank Group is "highly undervalued" relative to peers, according to TBC Bank CEO Vakhtang Butskhrikidze.

In responses provided to IntelliNews, Butskhrikidze said shares of TBC Bank Group (LON: TBCG) have been trading at roughly 5.7-times projected 2027 earnings and 1.4-times 2026 book value while generating a return on equity (ROE) of above 23%.

The banking group has in fact posted 14 consecutive quarters of ROE above 23%, and has exceeded 20% in 10 of the past 11 years, with 2020 proving the only exception amid the covid pandemic. Butskhrikidze attributed the run to a combination of Georgia's economic performance and the bank's underlying business model.

TBC's headquarters in Tbilisi (Credit: TBC Bank Group).

Georgia accounts for around 90% of group business. The country of 3.9mn’s GDP has more than doubled in dollar terms over five years to exceed $40bn in 2026. Over the past three years, TBC's loan book has grown at a 15% compound annual rate in dollar terms, with margins averaging around 6% and fee income nearly doubling as digital monthly active users rose from 600,000 in 2021 to 1.4mn in the first half of 2026.

Cost of risk has stayed consistently below 1%, and the cost-to-income ratio remains in the low 30s. Butskhrikidze said 99% of Georgian customer transactions now occurred outside branches, with around 85% of retail loans and deposits issued fully digitally.

Loan growth is running within TBC’s guided 10-15% annual range and Butskhrikidze said he expects the group to finish toward the top of that range this year on strong retail and corporate demand, rising real wages and continued corporate investment. In Uzbekistan – where TBC boasts digital bank TBC Bank Uzbekistan –lending, he added, is returning to growth following a period of adjustment to regulatory changes, with credit cards showing strength as the bank builds out its micro, small and medium sized enterprise (MSME) lending business.

On asset quality in Uzbekistan, where Fitch flagged rising cost of risk and a near-tripling of impaired loans in an early September rating action commentary, Butskhrikidze acknowledged a deterioration but described it as typical of scaling consumer lending in a frontier market.

TBC Bank Group's own first-half 2026 results showed non-performing loans (NPLs) in Uzbekistan more than doubling year-on-year to $94mn, with the NPL ratio rising to 10.6% from 4.1%, while cost of risk reached 10.9% and Uzbekistan ROE fell to 10.6% from 16.9%.

Butskhrikidze said the Uzbek business remains self-funding without additional capital from the group and pointed to a high-teens net interest margin as evidence of attractive risk-adjusted returns.

An IPO for TBC Uzbekistan was one of several longer-term strategic options outlined at the group's Strategy Day in New York earlier this year, though Butskhrikidze said it is "not something that is on the agenda at the moment". The group has set a target for Uzbekistan to contribute around 25% of group earnings by 2030.

Butskhrikidze said TBC is investing in artificial intelligence across customer engagement, lending, risk management and operational efficiency in both Georgia and Uzbekistan. In-app AI virtual assistants now resolve 50-60% of TBC customer   without human intervention, he said, with the Georgian chatbot able to provide personalised information including outstanding loan balances, payment dates and deposit interest rates.

TBC Capital, the group's investment banking arm, helped raise more than $1.2bn across local and international markets in 2025, including via four international deals, and holds more than 50% of Georgia's bond market.

Butskhrikidze described capital markets as a genuine growth opportunity as companies increasingly seek funding alongside traditional bank loans. The unit, he said, is also active in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, including in supporting Baku-based PASHA Bank's (BSE: PASHABK) IPO. It has hosted an International Capital Markets Conference twice in Tbilisi.

Asked about a proposed cap on interchange fees currently under discussion in the Georgian parliament, Butskhrikidze said it was too early to comment on any potential impact.