Tuesday, September 17 2013 20:27
BSTDB and INECOBANK sign a USD 5 million loan agreement
ArmInfo. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) and Inecobank have signed a USD 5 mln loan aimed at providing further support to small and medium enterprises in the country, the press service of INECOBANK told ArmInfo.
"We are glad to expand our cooperation with INECOBANK, which is not only our reliable partner, but also is among the top three leaders by SME lending. Our cooperation with INECOBANK allows us to support a wider range of SMEs, encouraging the development of the private sector and maintaining the availability of financial resources", says Andrey Kondakov, Head of the BSTDB.
"INECOBANK has closely cooperated with BSTDB since 2007 and I am glad to note that the new agreement is the result of our long-term partnership and a guarantee that it will be continued," the bank's CEO Avetis Baloyan said.
BSTDB was established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine which are the 11 founding countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) as a financial pillar of BSEC. As of end 2012, BSTDB cumulative portfolio in its 11 member countries has reached 280 approved operations in the key sectors of infrastructure, energy, transport, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial sector and other important areas exceeding EUR 2.7 billion.
According to ArmInfo's Financial Ranking of Armenian Banks, as of July 1 2013 INECOBANK had the second biggest SME portfolio in Armenia's banking system – over 48bln AMD or 57% of the bank's loan book. The majority shareholders of INECOBANK are the bank's CEO Avetis Baloyan (35.23%), Karen Safaryan (30.34%), Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklunsgesellschaft mbH (DEG, member of KfW) (12.58%) and IFC (9.32%).