Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 May / Trend E. Aliyev /
In 2013, Rabitabank entered a phase of active development and the results of the year's first quarter confirm a further increase in the efficiency of the bank's performance for the benefit of customers, shareholders and employees of the bank, the bank's chairman Nikoloz Shurgaiya told Trend on Friday.
"The bank's assets in the first quarter rose by 24 per cent and profitability has also increased. We are actively working to turn this process into a trend," Shurgaiya said.
According to him, the bank will expand in line with its five-year financial development plan. "Our mission is to be a customer driven bank providing convenient and simple products and qualitative services to micro, small and medium businesses as well as to professionals," Shurgaiya said.
The bank generally adheres to a rather conservative approach in its work with individuals preferring to have lower interest rates and light conditions for repayment and trying not to over-credit the customers.
"The market is not yet saturated with consumer loans, but there is a noticeable increase in lending. Risk management forms the foundation of banking. Each bank chooses its strategy, but the task of any bank lies in a sober assessment of these risks and making profits for the shareholders," he said.
In his opinion, it is very difficult to come up with a brand new product, but one can always develop existing products, improve services and increase efficiency.
"We are definitely going to introduce innovations. At this stage, we are trying to limit what we can incorporate without harming the quality of the services provided by the bank. Rabitabank has announced a number of new credit products this year and we will continue to apply new approaches to existing products.
The technological development of the bank, improvement of risk management and innovation in the products must go hand in hand. This year, marking the bank's 20th anniversary, we plan to announce a number of campaigns for the benefit of our customers," the bank's board chairman said.
According to him, Rabitabank has traditionally been a bank of the regions and will develop in this direction.
"Currently, there are seven branches of the bank operating in Baku, one of which opened in May. Baku was and will be the heart of the bank. Nevertheless, I believe that our strength and calling is to actively finance and develop a branch network in the regions. Opening of a branch in Aghsu is scheduled for this year. There is a possibility of opening branches in other cities as well. This will result in our bank having 22 branches and offices," Shurgaiya said.
By the end of 2013, the bank's ROA ratio is expected to reach 1.3 percent, ROE (return on equity) - 5.6 percent versus 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent at the end of 2012, respectively. By the end of 2017, these figures are expected to stand at 4.2 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.
Rabitabank has been operating in the banking market since 1993.
The official exchange rate on May 17 is 0.7847 AZN / USD.