TRADE FINANCING INSTRUMENTS PRIORITIES FOR ARMENIA: BTA INVESTBANK

ARKA
Oct 6, 2008

YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. Armenia should set priorities in trade
financing instruments, said Nur Bakbergenov, deputy chairman of the
BTA Investbank’s Directorial Board.

In 2005, the bank made only a couple of small deals on trade financing
in Armenia.

"Taking into account the global market turmoil, we believe the service
can have a promising future in Armenia," Bakbergenov added.

Trade financing terms will be the same in Armenia as they are in
Kazakhstan, as the bank plans to attract investments from Almaty for
this purpose.

"I hope the terms will be much more favorable than on-hand financing
Armenian banks offer," Bakbergenov said.

He refused to make public the results of the market surveys the bank
had carried out.

In his turn, CEO of Kazakhstan’s BTA Investbank Timur Sabirbaev saud
the bank effected $1bln worth trade financing deals in the first
half. Loan portfolio of BTA Group’s trade financing totals $5.5bln,
covering around 40% of Kazakh market.

"Armenia is capable of giving a start to trade financing and customers
take a keen interest in financial flows," Sabirbaev said.

Taking this into account, the bank has designed a number of attractive
products for Armenian market.

BTA Investbank is the legal successor of the International Investment
Bank established in 1991.

The bank is the strategic partner of Kazakhstan’s leading BTA Bank
which is 48.8% shareholder of Armenian BTA Investbank. The bank’s
other shareholders are the Austrian ZRL (31.1%) and the Kazakh-Armenian
MOBILEX Company (20%).

As of June 30, the bank’s capital and assets totaled 4.6bln drams and
13.3bln drams respectively. Its authorized capital stock amounts to
5.3bln drams. The bank’s first-half negative profit was 775.1mln drams.

According to the ARKA News Agency, BTA Investbank ranks 18th in
terms of first-half assets and is the 15th in terms of loans. The
bank ranks 17th in terms of liabilities and is the 21st in terms of
total capital. It also ranks 11th in terms of the authorized capital
stock. ($1 – 303.20 drams)