Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan 10 /Trend N.Ismayilov/
Regional branches are providing about 27 per cent of Azerbaijani Unibank profits, the bank told Trend on Tuesday.
"The region's share in the profit of the bank stands at about 27 per cent, while the previous figure was 15-17 per cent. This is primarily due to the fact that customer loyalty is higher in regions," the bank said.
There are regional branches operating in Sumgait, Guba, Sheki, Ganja, Mingachevir, Lankaran and Shamkir and Unibank intends expanding further.
"For example we intend raising the status of branches in Ganja, as we believe this market has potential. In addition, the operating schedule of the Neftchilar branch in Baku is change and it now operates until 9 pm in order to improve customer service," the bank said. The net operating profit of Unibank for December 1 amounted to 6.5 million manat.
The process of testing new ATMs, introduced as an electronic queuing system should improve the service further and is now complete.
Unibank was established on Oct. 15, 2002 as a result of a merger of the two advanced MBANK and PROMTEKHBANK private commercial banks. Unibank is a universal finance and credit institution offering retail and corporate services. The shareholders are financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (15.1515 per cent) and the German Investment Corporation DEG (8.3333 per cent).
The bank serves more than 172,000 customers in Baku, Sumgait and six other key regions of Azerbaijan through 24 branches and offices.
Official exchange rate on Jan 10 is 0.7863 AZN/USD