The FINANCIAL — Bank of Georgia (LSE: BGEO, GSE: GEB), a leading bank of Georgia, has been nominated as the Best Bank in Georgia by the 2009 Global Finance Award.
Global Finance, a leading global capital markets magazine annually publishes its awards for Best Emerging Market Banks in 20 countries in Asia.
Criteria for selecting the winners includes growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products.
“Global trade is expected to decline in 2009 for the first time since 1982, but trade finance is booming, as exporters and importers seek to manage their risks more carefully,” Joseph D.Giarraputo, publisher and president of Global Finance, announced.
“We have selected the banks that corporations can rely on for financing their global trade activities and providing other trade-related services,” Giarraputo stated.
Bank of Georgia’s banking operations in Georgia, which are provided through JSC Bank of Georgia reported full-year 2008 standalone net income of GEL 22.2 million. Net interest income rose 56.4% compared with the year 2007 and amounted to 197.3 million. Total operating income grew 50.6% compared to 2007 to GEL 277.7 million. Recurring operating costs constituted GEL 121.4 million.
As of 31 December 2008 Bank of Georgia’s total assets on a standalone basis stood at GEL 3 billion which is 16.1% higher than in 2007.
"We are honored to be nominated by the Global Finance Award as the Best Bank in Georgia for the second consecutive year. I would like to congratulate my colleagues with this prestigious award, which serves as a recognition of their good work in this challenging environment", commented Nicholas Enukidze, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Bank of Georgia, the leading universal Georgian bank with operations in Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus, is the largest bank by assets, loans, deposits and equities in Georgia, with 32.9% market share by total assets (all data according to the NBG as of 31 December 2008). The bank has 141 branches and over 856,000 retail and more than 139,000 corporate current accounts. The bank offers a full range of retail banking and corporate and investment banking services to its customers nationwide. The bank also provides corporate and retail insurance products through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Aldagi BCI, as well as asset & wealth management services.
In July 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Euromoney, a leading capital markets publication, named Bank of Georgia as the winner of the Best Bank in Georgia Award for Excellence.
In December 2006, 2007 and 2008 Bank of Georgia received The Bank of The Year Award for Georgia from The Banker, the publication of Financial Times Business Ltd, a member of the Financial Times group of companies.
Bank of Georgia has, as of the date hereof, the following credit ratings:
Standard & Poor’s – `B/B`;
FitchRatings – `B/B`;
Moody’s – `B3/NP` (FC) & `Ba3/NP` (LC).
Written By Madona Gasanova
