The FINANCIAL — The Tbilisoba festival coincided with Georgian Tea’s second international festival. On October 25-26 at Bambis Rigi street, Tbilisi, a presentation and tasting of black, green and plant treating tea products was held. The tea festival which is aimed at encouraging and supporting tea-growers and local producers was started last year in partnership with Basis Bank.
This year the tea festival was held for the second time and tea-growers from the Caucasus region and Turkey participated in it. The initiator of the festival is the Georgian tea producers association.
Tamuna Khaduri, PR manager of Basis Bank, said, “The Georgian tea festival will remind us again of how rich a land we are in resources. Georgian tea with its specific properties is a rather different product and has its own specific consumers. Tea producing is part of our dignity. The Georgian climate’s conditions are unique and very specific.
According to Basis Bank officials, “Participation in the festival was to show their support to local producers and encourage economical increase of local producing. With the partnership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Basis Bank is implementing different projects in this direction. Beginning from last year there were appointed special credit links for crediting micro and small businesses.
Basis Bank was founded in 1993 and has successfully established itself in the Georgian banking sector. It is a universal bank providing services to selected customers, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as entrepreneurs and middle-class consumers. The Bank’s strategy for the next five years will be focused on the expansion of its branch network, the strengthening of its retail and corporate businesses, the optimization of corporate governance and organizational structure and improving the efficiency of risk management.
The EBRD is acquiring a 15 percent-stake in Basis Bank, a privately-owned Georgian bank through subscription to new shares.
The investment will strengthen Basis Bank’s capital base in order to support its further growth. The EBRD’s involvement as a shareholder will improve Basis Bank’s business operations and corporate governance over the next 3 years through the implementation of an extensive institution building plan developed by the EBRD.
This plan will focus on improvements in the bank’s corporate governance, organizational restructuring, business development, operations, risk management and internal systems. The EBRD will also nominate a member to the Supervisory Board of the Bank.
Basis Bank and the EBRD have been partners since last year, when the Bank became the first recipient of a USD 6 million loan for lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the newly-introduced Georgian Financial Sector Framework and trade finance line worth USD 1 million under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme. An additional EUR 0.5 million of technical cooperation funds are planned for training and institution building. It is anticipated that the funding will be provided by the EBRD Early Transition Countries Multi-Donor Fund.
To date, the EBRD has invested in almost 80 projects with a total project value of EUR 780 million in Georgia. 85 percent of the investments are in the private sector. Among the Bank’s other priorities in the country are energy efficiency and infrastructure projects.
Basis Bank counts 15 years of its history. It was set up in a period when a rather complex business environment existed in the country. However, by its own efforts, it managed to become a stably growing financial institution with a firm base. Today Basis Bank has 2 main offices and 17 service centres throughout Georgia.
The most important events of the last years were recognised by the International Financial Institutions (The World Bank, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development…) and further strengthened cooperation with them.
The activities of Basis Bank include introducing such significant innovations in the Georgian banking system as credit cards and convertible deposits.
Basis Bank stands ready to offer its customers the best banking products, terms and conditions. In 2006-2007 the number of its clients (individuals) increased by up to 200 percent.
Today Basis Bank has all resources to offer its services to a far wider percentage of the population and organizations. It has a full range of bank products, expanding bank network, high service, flexible terms of products, and advanced bank technologies.
Written By Madona Gasanova
