Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 10 / Trend A. Akhundov /
Azerbaijani Pasha Bank is mastering the Georgian market ahead of schedule, chairman of the Pasha Bank's board Farid Akhundov said at a press conference on Monday.
"According to our initial plans, a branch in Georgia had to complete the first half of the year with a loss of two million lari ($ 1.2 million)," he said. "But the loss hit only 0.5 million lari ($0.3 million)."
The licence for Pasha Bank Georgia's activity was issued by the Georgian National Bank on January 17, 2013. An office was opened on February 8.
Akhundov added that Pasha Bank plans to expand operations not only abroad but at home. The bank intends to establish the business centres in Ganja by late 2013.
He said earlier that the bank plans to open a business centre in the city of Lankaran in 2014 and there are plans to establish one in the north of the country.
"The business centres differ from the branches by having more powers, better infrastructure and a wider range of services," Akhundov said earlier.
Pasha Bank was established in June 2007 and operates under a licence from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan dated Nov.28, 2007.
Its primary objectives are the strengthening of its leadership in corporate customer services, the qualitative growth of business in priority areas defined by the strategy and the creation and continued development of long term and trusted relationships.
The bank, along with Pasha Insurance, PASHA Life, Pasha Travel and Pasha Construction, is included in Pasha Holdings which is actually an investment company, but not a classic holding company. Kapital Bank is also included in the structure of the Pasha Group. The Holding owns 99.75 per cent of shares in the bank.