Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 April / corr Trend I.Khalilova / The banking sector of Azerbaijan is not so large and the International Financial Corporation (IFC) is considering the opportunities of investing in mortgage sector in all the banks, said Yelena Klepikova, the head of the IFC technical assistance program in dwelling financing, who is on a week-visit to Baku with the IFC delegation led by Vice President Deklan Daff.
"Taking into consideration long-term investment prospect, IFC is not a bad source of financing, whilst the major task will be defined only after considering the reputation risks of the bank,
"Klepikov said. The IFC is prepared to undertake financial risks, but not the political and reputation ones.
The IFC Vice President also confirmed his readiness for cooperation with the Azerbaijani banks within the framework of Housing Finance program, which includes provision of long-term financing and consultative services.
"The key objective of IFC is to boost the expediency of housing financing in Azerbaijan and simplify the terms of mortgaging in the country by using foreign loans for mortgaging".
The International Financial Corporation (IFC) plans to allot $30-35mln for the mortgage financing in Azerbaijan, the IFC representative to Azerbaijan Aliya Azimova said earlier. IFC intends to invest the funds through local banks. The funds will be enough for 3 to 4 banks.
The first credit intended for the mortgage financing will be allocated to the UniBank - within a month the IFC Board of Directors plans to approve of $15mln intended to be allotted to the bank.
At present, the mortgage market of Azerbaijan comprises of about $150mln.
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