Azerbaijan, Baku, June 4 / Trend /
Today, AccessBank announced that it was recognised for its good practices in Client Protection and Avoidance of Over-Indebtedness during the annual conference of the Microfinance Centre (MFC) in Kazakhstan. The honor was awarded to AccessBank by the MFC together with the Smart Campaign, a global movement of microfinance organizations for Client Protection.AccessBank was the only organization in the Caucasus region awarded for Client Protection. During the conference AccessBank was also recognised for itsSocial Performance Reporting. The Social Performance Reporting Award recognized MFIs commitment to transparency and accountability. The Award was established in 2009 by CGAP, together with the Ford Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Social Performance Task Force, and is administered by the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), a worldwide provider of financial and social performance information for the microfinance sector.
General Manager of AccessBank Andrew Pospielovsky welcoming the awards said that since the first day of AccessBank's work, we have endeavored to be a 'Responsible bank'. We try to ensure that each of our financial products is truly beneficial for our clients. Most importantly, this means providing loans only to those clients that will benefit from them and prevent client over-indebtedness. This award for Client Protection testifies that we are fulfilling our aims.
AccessBank's mission is to provide access to financial services for Azerbaijan's low and middle-income households and micro and small businesses. The International Fitch Rating Agency has recognised AccessBank as the most reliable non-state owned bank in Azerbaijan (BB+). AccessBank is 100 percent foreign owned by six shareholders, consisting of: the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank - the Development Bank of the German Government (20 percent each), Access Microfinance Holding - a strategic investor in microfinance (16.5 percent), and LFS Financial Systems - a German consulting company (3.5 percent).