OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2010. In its inaugural Transparency & Disclosure (T&D) Survey of Azerbaijan’s Banks the Standard & Poor’s Ratings Agency has assessed Azerbaijan’s AccessBank as the “most transparent Azerbaijani bank”.

AccessBank informs that it was the highest scoring bank in the survey.

Standard & Poor’s governance analyst Elena Pastukhova said: "We are glad to present the results of our first survey performed in Azerbaijan. In providing an assessment of disclosure practices among Azerbaijani banks and benchmarking these against several regional peers and other emerging economies surveyed, we seek to raise awareness of current weaknesses in transparency. We are hopeful that our survey will ultimately contribute to improved disclosure standards in the banking sector of Azerbaijan. Our group has a vast experience in conducting T&D surveys: in 2002, Standard & Poor’s published its first and the most global T&D study covering more than 30 countries. After 2003 we have published a number of surveys in different developing countries. As a result of continued interest among investors and analysts, Standard & Poor’s has been updating some of its surveys and continuously developing the methodology.”

Andrew Pospielovsky, General Manager of AccessBank, welcoming the announcement, said: “Transparency in all our operations, including with clients and investors, has always been one of the key goals of AccessBank.  Being recognized as the most transparent bank in Azerbaijan by Standard & Poor’s is confirmation that we are Transparent in fact and not just words”.

The mission of AccessBank is to provide access to financial services for Azerbaijan’s low- and middle-income households and micro and small businesses.  The International Fitch Rating Agency has declared AccessBank the most reliable bank in Azerbaijan among private banks (BB+), and AccessBank was named the “Best Bank in Azerbaijan” in the 2010 Euromoney Awards for Excellence. AccessBank is 100% foreign owned by six shareholders, consisting of: the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank – the Development Bank of the German Government (20% each), Access Microfinance Holding (16.5%), and LFS Financial Systems GmbH – a German consulting company (3.5%).