Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 18 /Trend, E. Aliyev/
In 2013 VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) expects to reach the income worth nearly $2 million, Chairman of the Board of VTB Bank (Azerbaijan), Alexander Eremin told Trend.
"This is the first year of the bank's operation with profit. At the end of the first half-year it was about $ 1.5 million under the standard of the Federal Reserve System despite the fact that the loss for this year was built in the budget, in connection with the opening of new branches and active growth of bank's business. This is a very pleasing result. A loss worth about $2.3 million was built in the forecasts for the first six months of 2013, but we were able to get the profit that exceeded 900,000 manats, which is a very good result," Eremin said.
According to him the current year is very significant for the bank.
To date, the bank's total loan portfolio exceeds 140 million manats.
"The business volumes are also increasing - more than 180 percent compared to last year. The bank actively is over fulfilling plans specified for this year - for example, in six months we have completed the annual plan for corporate business. Therefore the forecasts for this year can be considered inadequate in the sense that the reality was better than expectations," Eremin said.
According to him, in the second half of October, the bank's activities plan for the coming years will be approved.
"A three-year strategy for the development of the bank in Azerbaijan was approved in 2012. Its terms do not coincide with a similar strategy, developed by VTB Group, but this was done with regard to the situation in the subsidiary bank, related to the replacement of managerial staff. With the arrival of a new team to the bank, new tasks were set and we are fulfilling them. At the same time, it is necessary to bring plans of the bank's activities in Azerbaijan in line with the strategy of the VTB Group, and therefore the approval process of the development strategy for 2014-2016 is being carried out at the moment," Eremin added.
VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) has been operating in the country since 2009, and is a subsidiary of OJSC VTB Bank. Some 51 percent of its shares belong to JSC VTB Bank (Russia) and 49 percent to Ata Holding. In the Russian banking market VTB Group holds second place in all major indicators.
Among Russian banks JSC VTB Bank has the highest rating of the international rating agencies Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch.