The FINANCIAL, Georgia
Feb 18 2008
ProCredit Bank in Armenia Focuses on Credits
18/02/2008 15:14
The FINANCIAL — `In Armenia, just like in any other country we
operate in, ProCredit Bank plans to be a development oriented full
service institution,’ Ashot Abrahamyan, Deputy Executive Director of
ProCredit Bank in Armenia told The FINANCIAL. `Competition forces
banks to think of how to better present and position themselves in
the market.’
On February 5, 2008, ProCredit Bank Armenia opened for business, the
22nd institution in the worldwide ProCredit group.
`Everybody is welcome at ProCredit Bank Armenia: students,
pensioners, small entrepreneurs, corporate clients, ordinary people.
All of them represent ProCredit’s target group. The transparent and
easy to understand conditions make ProCredit’s products attractive to
clients.’
According to Abrahamyan the bank is oriented on the retail market as
well as on corporate clients.
`ProCredit Bank Armenia is seeking to work with both segments. The
bank can work with 10 corporate clients and give each of them USD 100
000 loans and you can work with 1 000 individual clients and lend
them USD 1 000 loans. Both aspects could be profitable, you need to
reach the necessary volumes,’ Abrahamyan declared.
According to ProCredit Bank Armenia, credit is a very important part
of the bank’s business.
`The bank is putting the main emphasis on lending to very small,
small and medium sized enterprises. Supposedly the most popular loans
will be loans to individual entrepreneurs willing to develop their
businesses,’ Abrahamyan said.
`ProCredit Bank wants to do a lot of lending to its target group in
order to develop their businesses, the economy and the financial
system, because it is clear that there is still a lot to be done in
this country. ProCredit Bank tends to bring ordinary people to the
bank and give them the opportunity to have and save money for a
difficult day, instead of keeping money under the mattress,’
Abrahamyan added.
The are 21 other banks operating in Armenia.
`And it is good because although the competition is growing it
remains fair. Many banks are also expanding in the regions and are
opening new branches. In the number of banks there are several
international banks as well. So there is HSBC bank Armenia, which has
been present in the Armenian market for 12 years already, there is
also ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, which is doing a lot of agro-lending.
So the competition is present and is quite strong,’ Abrahamyan says.
`Competition forces the banks to think about how to present and
position themselves in the market. ProCredit Bank hopes that the
competition will strengthen in the future and will challenge to work
harder and offer newer products to the clients.’
Mortgage loans are becoming very popular in Armenia
`However ProCredit Bank is not currently making that a priority.
Perhaps in the future the bank will start thinking about entering the
mortgage market as well, but not now. Today Procredit bank offers
Express Business loans to customers within 24 hours,’ Abrahamyan
said.
The Central Bank of Armenia granted ProCredit Bank the license to
conduct banking operations in Armenia on December 7, 2007. The
shareholders of ProCredit Bank are ProCredit Holding AG with 66, 66%
of shares, KfW with 16, 67% of shares, and EBRD with 16, 67% of
shares. By the end of 2008 ProCredit Bank Armenia will be present 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. The group
consists of 22 financial institutions in Eastern Europe, Africa, and
Latin America which are led and supervised by ProCredit Holding,
based in Frankfurt, Germany. It is not associated with any commercial
or political group. ProCredit Banks all over the world have a similar
management system, operate according to the same values and offer
their customers similar banking services.
Outstanding Loan Portfolio figures around the ProCredit group
worldwide by the end of 2007 consisted of: 2,969 (EUR million),
Number of Outstanding Loans: 1,037 (`000), Deposits Volume: 2,439
(EUR million), Number of Customer Accounts: 2,822 (`000), Number of
employees: 16,803, Number of branches worldwide: 621.