Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 4 /Trend, E. Aliyev/
FINCA Azerbaijan's non-bank credit organization hopes to obtain bank status and a relevant license from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) in 2014, the managing director of FINCA Manish Sane said on Wednesday at a press conference on the results of company's activity since early 2013.
"Talks with the Central Bank of Azerbaijan on transitioning into banking continue. I can not disclose the talks' details, but productive work is going on. We are waiting for the new regulatory requirements of the CBA on the capitalization of banks to enter into force and we hope that in 2014, we will get the license of the Central Bank. The company has enough resources to bring the share capital to the required level [of 50 million manats as of January 1, 2014]," Sane said.
According to him, obtaining a new status will give benefits both to FINCA, and clients.
"First of all, we will get the possibility to provide our customers in regions and especially in country's hard-to-reach villages and regions with a more wide range of services. It is necessary to note that attraction of deposits of the population is not another goal which we are following in the aspiration to become a bank. At the same time, our company's plans include entry into the customer credits market, which will become possible by acquiring new status," Sane said.
According to him, imposing new requirements on minimum volume of banks' authorized capital by CBA indicates the regulator's willingness to consolidate the market.
"The Central Bank has determined very clear frameworks, game rules in the market and the strategy to protect it from the increasing of risks. We are confident that obtaining of bank status by FINCA will not increase the risks in the market. Our company has enough experience in controlling risks, we can right now fully finance our activity and it is not necessary for us to attract deposits for this. Risks related to this will affect neither us, nor the market," Sane said.
According to him, FINCA Azerbaijan will make worthy competition for the country's banks.
"We are already a leader in the micro financing market and our share exceeds 35 per cent. We will be able to adequately compete with the banks operating in the market both in terms of the volume of credit portfolio and the number of clients. We have a relevant experience; FINCA is already a bank in Georgia, our company in Kyrgyzstan will also obtain such status by the end of the year. Our goal is to get a bank license in half of the 22 countries where we operate," Sane noted.
"FINCA Azerbaijan" has operated in Azerbaijan since 1998.
The official exchange rate on September 4 is 0.7844 AZN/USD.