"WE PLAN TO ATTRACT SIGNIFICANT MEANS FROM FOREIGN SOURCES"
Mediamax Agency, Armenia
March 13 2007
Interview to the Executive Director of Inecobank Mher Grigorian to
Mediamax Agency (Banks.am)
– Lately "Inecobank" signed two credit contracts – with the EBRD at
the sum of $5mln (financing of micro- and small business) and with
the BSTDB at the sum of $3mln (financing of foreign trade). Will
those contracts lead to the improvement of crediting conditions by
"Inecobank"?
– "Inecobank" cooperates with many well-known international
organizations, among which the International Financial Corporation
(IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
KfW and others.
We are not going to limit ourselves to the above-mentioned financing
sources, and in the course of 2007 we plan to attract significant
sums from the foreign sources.
Our bank has always been adherent to the strategy of financing
according to the market tariffs, and the given credits are not
an exception. Unfortunately, the Armenian banks are not yet
able to attract resources by very low interest rates, and taking
into consideration the increasing demand for credits in Armenia,
I consider it unlikely that the credit interest rates will decrease
in the nearest future – especially in case of foreign currency credits.
-The international financial structures have been assisting your bank
before in the sphere of financing of foreign trade. In particular,
in 2005 "Inecobank" joined the program of EBRD on assistance in the
sphere of foreign trade crediting. Does your bank have any plans as
to the implementation of factoring service?
– The program of EBRD on financing foreign trade differs from the
program of BSTDB. In the first case, direct financing is not being
realized, but an issue of warrants and letters of credits, approved by
international banks. What concerns the factoring, yes; we carry out
works in that direction: we have organized trainings for the staff,
initiated a small study of the market. I believe that in the course
of 2007, we will conclude a few agreements with Armenian companies,
which realize wholesale and small wholesale trade, but here we talk
about the inner factoring yet.
– "Inecobank" is included in the program of the German KfW bank
"Stable development of mortgage market". Can we suppose that the
mortgage credits, provided within the framework of the program, will
become privileged for mortgage borrowers, and how will in this case
the issue of selection of potential borrowers be decided upon?
– There are so-called "minimal standards of the credit qualities"
elaborated within the framework of the program, which determine
the criteria of the borrowers’ selection. Unfortunately, the given
criteria are quite strict and allow involving only the most solvent
group of the potential borrowers. On the other hand, this is natural:
the 6mln euro, allocated by the KfW for crediting, is not a large sum,
so we cannot talk about a large-scale mortgage program.
– Starting from December of 1997, "Inecobank", first from all the
Armenian commercial banks started to service the trade of consumer
goods on credit. Do you preserve the leading position in the given
segment?
– Quite true, when 10 years ago "Inecobank" started granting consumer
credits, it was the only one to realize such activities, and today
almost all the banks provide the given service. It is well-known that
each product has a cycle of existence, and we aim at not preserving
the leadership, but changing the format of consumer crediting,
facilitating and accelerating its process.
Our bank has elaborated a system, named "On the spot crediting",
that is the crediting in the shop. The customers will not have to
visit the bank anymore before they make the purchase – the whole
procedure will be realized immediately in the shop by means of the
electronic system, worked out by "Inecobank". We believe that the
given direction is one of the priority ones and think that as soon
as it is put into operation, we will strengthen our positions.
– Lately, it is more often talked about the necessity to increase
the growth of trust of the population for the banking system. What
steps does your bank take up in that direction?
– We pay special attention to the image of the bank, and up till now
there has been no case that would negatively influence the reputation
of our bank. An important role is played in the formation of the image
and the increase of trust for the bank by the irreproachable reputation
of our share-holders, among which are the international institutional
investors IFC and ShoreCap International, as well as the trust from
the part of our international partners: EBRD, KfW, ADB and others.
To be granted a credit by this or that international organization
or a bank, we undergo a certain procedure of legal and financial
examination, which is called Due Dilligence – a set of measures,
which are taken up to check and to objectively assess the legality
and the financial situation of the bank. Our bank has undergone 5
such examinations, and each time – successfully.
By the way, last year the volumes of assets, attracted by our bank
from individuals, exceeded the indices of 2005 by 26.8%, which we
relate to the growth of trust for the bank.
– Lately, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) became the
10% share-holder of "Inecobank". Should we expect any changes in the
strategic policy of the bank?
– Surely, the participation of an organization, such as IFC, plays an
important part in the development of the bank, implying an inflow of
new resources both from the population and the international financial
organizations. The attracted assets will be directed to both the
development of the current services and the elaboration and provision
of new ones, which will assist the general development of the bank.
It is natural that together with the development and the enlargement
of the bank, some changes will take place in its strategy as well,
but our main goal will remain unchanged – the maximal satisfaction
of the customers’ needs. The bank has been and will be adherent in
the future to the principles of customer-oriented activities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
