OREANDA-NEWS. December 17, 2009. The 10th anniversary prize presentation ceremony for distribution of one of the most prestigious international awards in the banking sector from "The Banker" magazine - the "Bank of the Year" award, took place in London, reported the press-centre of IBA.

The "Bank of the Year" award from "The Banker" magazine is presented to the winners from 144 countries, as well as to the winners from 6 regions of the world, and to the winner in the nomination for the "Global Bank".

The awards were presented to the banks based on the results of their performance over the past 12 months including the detailed information on finance performance for the accounting period, information on innovative activity, and the banks-nominees' general strategy for development. At the same time, considering the difficulties of the expiring year, there were no banks-winners from the countries, the banking systems of which could not withstand the strain of crisis or the banks - market leaders of which could not make a sufficient progress in order to be nominated for the award.

In the nomination for the "Bank of the Year in Azerbaijan", that has already been the 8th time since 2000 that the "International Bank of Azerbaijan" has become the winner.

It is noteworthy that for the "International Bank Azerbaijan", the year of 2009 became one of the abundant ones in terms of awards. Thus, in October this year, the Bank received the award of "Best Bank in Azerbaijan" from "Euromoney" magazine (London), while earlier, in March, the Bank also the 8th time since 2002 had become the winner in the nomination for the "Best Bank in Developing Regions" (in Azerbaijan) from "Global Finance" magazine (New York). The same year, for the first time, the Bank also won the award of "Best Bank in CIS, Central and Eastern Europe" from "Emeafinance" magazine (London).

And, at the end of April, within the framework of the 3rd Viennese Banking Forum of the countries of CIS and Eastern Europe and the 20th Conference of BACEE (Banking Association of Central and Eastern Europe), which was attended by nearly 200 financial institutions from more than 20 countries, the solemn prize presentation ceremony for distribution of the first international banking award of "Platinum Key", founded in 2008 at the initiative of chief executives of banking associations of some European states and the CIS countries, took place. In accordance with the assessment performed by the Council of Experts, the "International Bank of Azerbaijan", which has made a considerable contribution to the development of national banking system, has become the prize-winner of the first international banking award of "Platinum Key".

Besides that, in February this year, the successful performance of IBA has been highly appreciated by the Board of Directors of the "European Economic Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry" (EEIG), and the "International Bank of Azerbaijan" has been ranked as the most stable bank in Europe in the time of crisis.

It is also noteworthy that IBA currently has the highest in Azerbaijan ratings received from the international rating agencies of "Fitch" (BB+) and "Moody's" (Baa3).

The basis for these successes, is undoubtedly, the political and economic stability in Azerbaijan.

At present, IBA is the most capitalized bank in the country. Over the year, its charter capital increased up to 200 million manats. In January-September 2009, IBA achieved a 13% growth in assets and, as of October 1st of a current year, the total volume of its assets amounted to approximately 6 billion US dollars. The volume of IBA's deposit portfolio amounted to 1.9 billion manats (including 508 million manats of deposits from individual clients, plus on-demand deposits for the amount of 152 million manats, and long-term deposits totaling 356 million manats).

As of October 1, the volume of Bank's the aggregate capital amounted to 452.105 million manats, or 562.7 million US dollars.

IBA traditionally expands the volume of banking operations at the international money market and the market of capitals. Since the beginning of a current year alone, we have signed the syndicated loan agreements with the world's largest banks for the total amount of over 200 million US dollars. In the time of ongoing global financial crisis and the shortage of liquidity at the international financial markets, this serves as the evidence of confidence and great interest displayed by foreign investors with respect to IBA. The Bank also ensures the timely repayment of externally borrowed loans: in 2008, the total amount of repayments made 800 million US dollars, while since the beginning of a current year - 217 million US dollars.

Considering the fact that nowadays, all over the world, much attention is given to the Islamic banking, IBA intends to keep its well-established relations with Islamic financial institutions. In this connection, the bank plans to establish a wholly owned affiliate in Qatar in 2010, seeks for opportunities to enter the perspective capital markets, and carries on negotiations with new partners and investors in the Muslim East.

According to the public-opinion polls and the monitoring conducted by the Bank, in our country there is also a demand for products and services that are structured on not an interest-bearing basis. The negotiation process with Islamic Development Bank on setting up of "Islamic window" in IBA has already started. By the end of this year, a specially organized working group shall present the proposals for its opening. This week, IBA participated as the privileged partner at the largest annual international conference on Islamic Banking that was attended by 1200 delegates from 50 countries of the world and took place at the beginning of December in Manama - capital of Bahrain. And, of course, the number of conferees alone sets one thinking about the increased demand for this trend.