The FINANCIAL — As Irakli Gilauri, CEO of Bank of Georgia said, the Bank will be adding a foreign representative office in 2011.
As well as the representative offices already opened in London and Israel, the Bank is considering launching its activities in Dubai, as one of the options. As Gilauri said, a representative office will be added in the following 3-6 months.
Gilauri considers a 20-25% increase from the balance side. “There will be increase in the credit as well as deposit side. From January we already saw high banking activity which is quite unusual for the month of January,” Gilauri said.
“By the end of December 2010 we have added four branches throughout the country, expanding the chain from 137 to 141,” Gilauri added.
Total net income of Bank of Georgia on a standalone basis reached a record indicator of 91 million GEL in 2010, which is 3 times more compared to the previous year. The total income increased by 12.2% compared to the year 2009 and made up 283.5 million GEL. Increase in income was defined with net interest income increase by 7.1% and net non-percentage income increase by 26.2%, compared to the year 2009. Total operating income amounted to 133.2 million GEL in 2010, which is 9% increase compared to 2009.
The total assets of the Bank on a standalone basis increased by 39% compared to the previous year’s results and reached more than 3.9 billion GEL as of 31 December, 2010. The total amount of bank loans exceeded 2.2 billion GEL, which is an increase of 37.1% compared to the previous year’s results. From this, retail sector loans consisted of 974.3 million GEL, a 32.2% increase compared to the previous year, while in the corporate sector the loans increased by 44% amounting to 1.2 billion GEL.
Total client deposits amounted to 1.8 billion in 2010, which is increase by 681.7 million GEL compared to the beginning of the year and 60.5% increase to the previous year. From this retail clients’ deposits increased by 44%, which is 541 million GEL compared to the year 2009, while corporate clients’ deposits increased by 71.2% and amounted to 1 billion GEL.
“Bank of Georgia increased crediting the Georgian economy by 600 million GEL in 2010. Which means many SMEs as well as physical individuals got the opportunity to borrow from the Bank,” Gilauri said.
“Moreover the Bank grew faster in 2010 than the banking sector in general. Total loans increased by 37.1%, while clients’ deposits by 60.5%. As a result, compared to 2009 the Bank gained 4.1% of total market loans, almost 4% market share of clients’ deposits and 3.2% of market total assets,” Gilauri added.
As Gilauri said, the Bank has reached the historically highest market share indicators in loans, deposits and total assets, 36%, 32.2% and 36.2% respectively. “This success was guaranteed by those factors that Bank of Georgia left the crisis with a strong position and continues dynamic development,” Gilauri added.
“The success of the Bank was recognized by international investors, which was reflected in share price on the London Stock Exchange. The price of stock increased by 140% from the beginning of 2010 till the year’s end, which is increase from 8.4 USD to 20.2 USD,” Gilauri said.
Bank of Georgia total shares outstanding amount to 31.3 million shares and accounts more than 100 investors, which are investors from global capital markets, pension funds, investment funds and insurance.
According to Gilauri, the Bank has distributed 480,000 debit and 120,000 credit cards. “We have almost doubled the turnover on individual cards. Launching American Express cards was a good strategy for the Bank which decreased demand for other banks cards. There is doubled turnover in our POS terminals,” Gilauri declared.
The exclusive personal banking service SOLO, which is mainly oriented on middle and high income society currently serves 2,303 clients. Despite the special banking product offers, clients of SOLO can use so-called Lifestyle offers, which mean getting special terms while purchasing tickets, entrance to closed and special events, exclusive discounts and more.
Within the framework of the SMS Loan, clients switched to a salary scheme of Bank of Georgia borrowed 5.9 million GEL. Moreover, with the renewed instalment service, the clients have used 6.5 million GEL worth of loans as of 31 December, 2010.
Moreover, within the framework of the project, replacing an old car with new, the Bank has distributed 9.2 million GEL, which resulted in quarter increase of 33.3% in auto lending.
The micro lending portfolio increased by 141.1% compared to 2009 and amounted to 238.4 million GEL.
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