PROCREDIT BANK OPENS IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
05.02.2008 16:49

Today, a new bank opened in Armenia, which will serve the small
businesses and "ordinary people" of the country: ProCredit Bank. The
opening ceremony took place today with an official ribbon cutting
performed by Mr. Tigran Sargsyan, the Chairman of the Central Bank of
Armenia; Mr. Vardan Sukiasyan, ProCredit Bank’s first client, a local
small business owner who will open a savings account with the bank; and
Mr. Bertolt Hertzfeldt, the General Manager of ProCredit Bank Armenia.

ProCredit Bank seeks to be a "neighbourhood bank" which will serve
the local community in Armenia. ProCredit Bank in Armenia, like
the ProCredit institutions in all other countries where the group
operates, will be a customer-oriented, socially responsible bank,
providing high-quality and affordable services to ordinary people,
placing emphasis on lending to very small, small, and medium-sized
businesses and developing a savings culture among ordinary people. "We
will be your bank around the corner that offers the best service to
all its customers. We welcome everyone to start saving with us or to
take out a loan to develop his or her business.

The whole ProCredit team is looking forward to starting operations
in Armenia. We want to be your neighbourhood bank and a bank that
makes a difference," says the General Manager of ProCredit Bank,
Mr. Bertolt Hertzfeldt.

ProCredit Bank will focus on lending to very small, small and
medium-sized enterprises, as it is convinced that these businesses
create the largest number of jobs and make a vital contribution to
the economic development of Armenia. The bank will offer business
loans starting from USD 100 for small entrepreneurs and transparent
banking services for private individuals, such as saving accounts
with no minimum deposit amount.

The Central Bank of Armenia granted ProCredit Bank a licence to conduct
banking operations in Armenia on December 7, 2007. The shareholders
of ProCredit Bank are ProCredit Holding AG, the majority shareholder,
with a 66.66% stake; KfW, which holds 16.67% of the shares; and the
EBRD, which holds 16.67% of the shares. By the end of 2008 ProCredit
Bank Armenia will be represented in three regions of Armenia with
six branches: four in Yerevan, one in Vanadzor, and one in Artashat.

ProCredit Bank in Armenia is part of the ProCredit group, which
consists of 22 financial institutions in Eastern Europe, Africa,
and Latin America. They are led and supervised by ProCredit Holding,
an investment company based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, which
is the majority shareholder in each institution. The company is not
associated with any commercial or political group. ProCredit Banks
all over the world have similar management systems, operate according
to the same ethical standards and values, and offer their customers
similar banking services.