Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.3 / Trend, A. Badalova /
FINCA Azerbaijan non-bank credit organization expects realization of plans on transformation into bank by late 2012, FINCA Azerbaijan chief executive officer Manish Sane told Trend.
He said FINCA is interested in completing the process of transformation into bank in less than two years, however, there are circumstances, which do not depend on the organization, delays this process and do not allow to say specific terms.
"Nevertheless, we hope that we can achieve this [transformation into the bank] by late 2012" - Sane said.
For transformation into bank FINCA Azerbaijan has appealed with proposals to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan to obtain a license for banking activities.
Sane said the process delays due to the fact that the CBA has not completed work on optimizing the country's banking system.
"Azerbaijan's banking sector is extensive - there are 44 banks in the country. The Central Bank is doing a great work to optimize these banks' activities. This leads to some delay in our plans to transform into bank," he said.
According to Sane, FINCA Azerbaijan is a strong and successful candidate for transformation into a bank, and this is evidenced by such factors as a large customer base in the country [the number of clients exceeds 100,000], a large network of branches covering the whole territory of Azerbaijan, as well as possession of now modern banking software.
FINCA Azerbaijan is one of the leading non-bank credit organizations in the country, established in 1998 with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It is part of the microfinance structure Finka International, which operates in 22 countries.
The transformation of the organization into the bank will allow rendering clients, in addition to loans and other financial services money transfers and deposit services.