Tuesday, March 27 2012 22:14
IFC Helps Byblos Bank Armenia Boost Mortgage and Residential Energy-Efficiency Lending
ArmInfo. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with Byblos Bank Armenia to help it expand mortgage lending and offer residential energy-efficiency financing, helping save energy resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
IFC is providing a $10 million loan to Byblos Bank Armenia to offer its clients increased access to housing finance and also to the first-ever residential energy-efficiency lending package offered by a local bank in Armenia. Byblos Bank Armenia will design its energy-efficiency products with advisory support from IFC's Armenia Sustainable Energy Finance Project.
Ararat Ghukasyan, Chief Executive Officer of Byblos Bank Armenia, said, "By promoting energy efficiency and energy-efficient lending products, we can help homeowners in Armenia to reduce their annual energy bills, lead more environmentally friendly lifestyles, and improve the health, comfort, and safety of their homes. This is the first funding of this nature in Armenia, hence it is equally important to our customers and to Byblos Bank Armenia."
Tomasz Telma, IFC Director for Europe and Central Asia, said: "Our strategy in Armenia is to increase access to finance, including energy-efficiency finance, and to encourage sustainable economic growth, support job creation, and diversify the country's economic base. By working with financial intermediaries such as Byblos Bank Armenia we can achieve significant development impact in a country that relies heavily on energy imports."
IFC will provide training for Byblos Bank Armenia credit officers and risk specialists to educate them in assessing risks and processing energy-efficiency loan applications. Armenia, a country with few fossil energy resources, has strong demand for energy efficiency because of the high cost of energy.
Since Armenia became a member of IFC in 1995, IFC has invested $202 million in 35 projects across the industry spectrum, including financial markets, manufacturing, and mining. IFC Advisory Services also provides advice through projects focusing on the financial sector, sustainable energy, and regulatory simplification. IFC's Armenia Sustainable Energy Finance Project is being implemented in partnership with the Austrian Ministry of Finance.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, IFC helped its clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities-all while driving the investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
Byblos Bank Armenia is an independent subsidiary of Byblos Bank, a universal bank headquartered in Lebanon and operating in 12 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Byblos Bank Lebanon is an IFC client since 1993 and IFC currently holds equity in the bank with a stake of 8.4 percent.
Since 2007, Byblos Bank Armenia provides services and products in consumer, commercial, and correspondent banking, as well as in treasury and capital markets. It aims at fulfilling the financial needs of Armenian nationals and Armenian Diaspora present in the USA, Europe, Lebanon, Syria, and other parts of the world.
Ranking of the Armenian Commercial Banks prepared by ArmInfo says total capital of Byblos Bank Banks totaled $23.3 million as of Jan 1 2012, with assets totaling $98 million, credit exposures - $52.2 million. The bank's net profit for 2011 totaled $756.5 thousand.
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