Azerbaijan, Baku, April 30 / Trend I. Khalilova /
The portfolio of Azerbaijani DemirBank's foreign loans hits 90 million manat, DemirBank chairman Roman Amirjanov said.
"Today, our bank cooperates with 25 foreign financial institutions. Borrowings totaled about 30 million manat in the first quarter of 2010," Amirjanov said.
These volumes are connected with confidence of financial institutions towards Azerbaijani Bank, as they have already got a report on the results of 2009 audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
"There is a trend that not only institutional investors, but financial institutions and commercial banks are often interested in DemirBank. Foreign investors visit the bank every week. It is the result of great interest to Azerbaijan as a whole," he said.
He said that such a lively interest in DemirBank is explained by the fact that today about 20-25 percent of the loan portfolio fall to microcredit. Moreover, a diversified customer base also plays a role. The bank currently has corporate clients in the construction sector, transportation, communications, trade, export-import-oriented enterprises that attract the interest of foreign investors.
One of the first banks of Azerbaijan, DemirBank (formerly called Azerdemiryolbank) started its operations in October 1989. Shareholders of the Banks include large international financial institutions, such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO).
DemirBank on various credit programs collaborates with international organizations such as EBRD, the International Finance Corporation, Dutch Development Finance Company (FMO), Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, Germany and Azerbaijan Foundation, a German investment company DEG, an international development fund OFID, the Islamic Corporation for private sector development, trade and financial fund Rosemount Global (USA), BANIF (Portugal), an investment fund SIFEM AG (Switzerland), ING BANK (Netherlands), etc.