Azerbaijan, Baku, April 13 / Trend A. Hasanov /
The German Commerzbank has postponed its plans to transform its representative office in Azerbaijan into a branch, Commerzbank representative office in Baku Johann
Engbrecht told Trend on Friday.
"However, this does not mean that our bank is not going to enter the Azerbaijani banking market for active operations," he said. "But now it is too small. Commerzbank's further plans will depend on the development of the banking market in the country."
He added that a large number of cash payments in the country's economy hinder the development of the banking sector.
"Commerzbank will not consider the plans to transform its representative office into a branch till the state, including the Central Bank takes actions to bring cash into the banking sector and the Azerbaijani banking system is restructured in connection with the reduction in the number of banks," he added.
Commerzbank AG chairman Martin Blessing said at the opening of a representative office in 2008 that at the initial stage, the bank will operate as a representative office. After a certain period of operation, depending on the success of the business, it will begin working as a bank branch.
At present, Commerzbank main clients are banks in the country. For this reason, the bank is concentrating its efforts on developing cooperation with credit institutions, in particular the lending operations of banking institutions. The bank's main function is to encourage German investments in Azerbaijan and vice versa.
Commerzbank cooperates with about 22 leading Azerbaijani banks [there are 44 banks in the country], each of which serves its customers operating in international markets.
Commerzbank AG received a license from the Azerbaijani Central Bank to open a representative office in Baku in November 2007.