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 | | International Bank of Azerbaijan -Leader in the Caucasus Region |
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Recognized by international financial institutions as one of the leading banks in the Southern Caucasus region, the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) has been in operation for ten years.
The IBA has been a member of the SWIFT system since 1993 and is a member of the Europay International and Visa International payment systems. The IBA occupies a prominent place among the best financial and credit institutions of Eurasia and has won many important international awards in the banking sphere over the last two years. The activities of the bank's management and staff have resulted in the following awards: "Best Bank", an award of the "Euromoney" Magazine ; "Sacred Book" by the Financial World, "Bank of the Year" by "The Banker"; "Best Emerging Market Bank" by "Global Finance", a magazine published in the USA; and "Golden Medallion" established by the Geneva High Business Institute and Management and Sweden Business Club. The bank's overall rating has been established by Fitch IBCA as a very high B+ positive.The IBA completed its last financial year with outstanding growth results. Today, the bank's assets are well over $500 million, which reflects an increase over 2001 of 20%. The growth in income was 29%, with an increase of net profit of 52%, in 2002. For 2003 the growth in net income has been projected to be 30%.
More than half of the total bank deposits in Azerbaijan are in the IBA. Having the lowest interest rates in the country, the IBA has the largest deposit portfolio. To support this claim of sustained growth the following information is provided: in 1999 bank deposits of the Azeri population were $14,9 million, in 2000 - $26,4 million , in 2001 - $43,7 million. Today, this figure totals $81,6 million (total volume of deposits - $227,1 million ). These figures provide evidence of the growth of society's confidence in IBA and of growth in the personal income of the Azeri people.
In considering the needs and expectations of the customers, IBA continues to offer a variety of new banking products and services. One such product is the bearer's certificate of deposit. To acquire such certificates it is not necessary to present correspondent ID. In spite of that, our customers prefer to assign their money in nominal deposits. In 2002 customers who assigned their funds in our bank had a total of $9,5 million in income. The IBA also has one of the biggest credit portfolios among Azeri banks with a total volume of $248,2 million.
The Bank continues its activities to attract foreign capital for further investment in the Azeri economy. The IBA can approve lines of credit up to $5 million to $ 6,5 million . correspondingly to be opened by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank.
In the autumn of 2001 the International Banks Consortium, headed by Reiffeisenbank, authorized a syndicated credit ($ 6 million ) to the IBA and today it can open lines of credit to foreign banks. In January 2002, as a member of a syndicate of leading world banks, such as Reiffeisenbank, Reiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich, Drezdner Bank Luxembourg, Bankges-sellshaft Berlin, American Express Bank and Union Bank of California, the IBA affiliate "The International Bank of Azerbaijan - Moscow" opened lines of credit to Russian banks.
This year, the IBA made its first steps in the international securities market by acquiring short-term bills (8 and 4 million EUROs correspondingly) of "Gazprombank" and "Vneshtorgbank" with a 6% interest rate per annum with our Moscow Bank. For the first year of its activity "IBA - Moscow" was rated as 173 out of 1,300 Russian banks. In May 2003 our affiliate Bank is intending to open a branch in Saint Petersburg.
In December 2002 the official opening ceremony of the IBA London Representative Office took place in the Bank of England. The opening of our representative office in Great Britain is an important step in the IBA's entrance into European markets.
Last year we observed a strengthening of the new European currency - the EURO - and the IBA takes this fact into consideration when it makes its policies. Last year the IBA assets in the share in the EURO was increased. To increase assets in the EURO, the IBA conducts negotiations with the International Payment Systems to carry out transactions in the EURO. The current financial situation shows that it is not profitable to enter into European markets with only the USD. Last year the IBA bought and sold 20 million EUROs. The authorised capital of "IBA-Moscow" is also the EURO.
IBA takes great pride in the process of its transition into a large corporation.
The IBA is the co-founder of the Baku Interbank Currency Exchange, the Baku Stock Exchange, the processing Company "Azericard" that is the only one in Southern Caucasus, and the leasing Company "Azerileasing". The IBA also owns the International Insurance Company and the authorised capital of International Insurance Company (IIC) makes up 43% of the total volume of authorised capital of insurance companies in Azerbaijan, which makes it the largest in the country. In spite of its recent entrance into the Azeri insurance market, IIC is offering 25 types of insurance and has gained the confidence of the Azeri population.The IBA controls 80% of the local credit card market, and 2002 was one of the most successful years for this activity. Growth in that area shows that funds turned over with plastic cards totalled $ 88,3 million and that was a 67% increase over the year 2001. In 2002, 28 thousand plastic cards were issued, which was 63% more than in 2001. A total of 209 businesses obtained IBA cards for their employees during 2002. A new type of credit card, the Mastercard Platinum, has already been issued. The IBA also installed over 250 new ATMs and hundreds POS-terminals. One of the current objectives of the IBA is to establish a "financial supermarket" in order to render maximum services to the population via Smart-Cards and the "Bakuvian's Card". The IBA has established a system of acceptance for all communal payments through the banking system of Azerbaijan. Today all IBA branches and customer support locations use this system.
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