Russia, Moscow, 12 June / corr. Trend R. Agayev/ The priorities of the St Petersburg branch of IBA-Moscow is to expand the business of IBA, development of trade and economic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia and to serve emigrants from Azerbaijan in the region, Fuad Gasimov, the director of the Branch said.
According to Gasimov, establishment of Bank's branch in the Russia's north-western region is one of the striking examples of dynamic development of Azerbaijan-Russia relations, friendship, good-neighbor relations between the two countries and new economic policy built on principles of mutual respect.
IBA-Moscow is a subsidiary of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the first and only bank with 100% Azerbaijani capital functioning in Russia. The Bank was founded with the support of Azerbaijani government, with the only founder of IBA-Moscow being International Bank of Azerbaijan - the largest bank in Azerbaijan which was established in 1992 on the basis of the Azerbaijani branch of the Foreign Economy Bank of USSR. The Bank is fully state-owned at present. IBA-Moscow is the first bank in Russia with the foreign capital from the CIS.
The money transfers are one of the highly demanded services of the Bank among the Azerbaijanis in that region, Gasimov said. The Azerbaijanis is the second largest Diaspora in St Petersburg totaling 10% of the total population, he said.
"We could attract a large proportion of the people. They transfer money to Azerbaijan through our bank," Gasimov said.
According to Gasimov, there was 11%rise in the money transfers in 2007. During this period, the Bank transferred over $24mln with the number of transfers totaling 16,000 and 90% percent of this amount accounts for Azerbaijan.
"This is an important indicator for a branch, but it is not the maximum point. The other diasporas also work with us including that of Tajik and Uzbek. It means that our services are competitive from the viewpoint of tariffs, speed and other factors," he said.
The correspondent can be contacted at:[email protected]