The FINANCIAL — Out of the 19 commercial banks in Georgia, only a few – namely 5 – banks are being active over the New Year with special campaigns specifically for the season. These are TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia, Bank Republic, Liberty and ProCredit Banks whilst the rest of the banks are remaining passive at this time of year.
Most of those (active) banks’ offerings are comprised of a cut in interest rates, improving conditions of instalments, bonus points on plastic cards, charity activities, and a transparency campaign.
TBC Bank
TBC Bank has started its 0% instalment campaign which is only available in Goodwill Hypermarket. The campaign will continue till 15 January and any customer will be able to purchase consumer electronics by 0% instalment from TBC Bank.
“To cover the amount of the instalment you’ve to pay monthly (from 3-6 months) and after paying the full cost you have no money to add at all as interest on instalment as it’s all a gift from TBC for the New Year,” said Tamar Kirvalidze, PR Manager from TBC Bank.
From December 2-31 TBC is also offering any person with income debited in any Georgian bank the best conditions on loans: 11% on mortgages, 15% on consumer loans in an hour, 15% on auto loans as well.
VISA card owners at TBC will also be given an advantage for their purchases starting from just a 5 GEL amount. As well as the two main surprises – Travel in dream town and 1 million smart points – the winners will receive a Mac book Pro, Iphone 4, Ipads and sales actions at Elit electronis, Swatch, Adress, Beneton and Vu le vu. The VISA festival has been run by TBC Bank already since 2004 and so far prizes have been given to 400 such card owners.
TBC Fund will also be running charity activities on December 30 in Tserovani School. There will be a Latino-American dancing programme for 2 hours, after which New Year gifts will be given to refugee children.
Bank of Georgia (BOG)
Bank of Georgia has initiated a grandiose musical project meaning that anyone can record a song (that’s put on love.bog.ge web-site), winning the contest by sending the best 1 minute video track back by uploading it on to the website.
“We’ll have 3 winners from this particular campaign. The first place winner will be given a 5 day tour in Paris for two people. Those in second place will be provided with an iMac whilst the third place winner will receive an iPad 3G.
Winners will be announced by special jury. In addition the video which will collect the most “Likes” will be nominated as getting the “Sympathy of the Audience,” said Sophie Balavadze, Brand Executive (PR, New Media).
“There are already over 150 videos for the contest and till 31 December people still have the chance to upload those videos as on January 13 all winners will be nominated,” Balavadze told The FINANCIAL.
In addition Bank of Georgia has +1% on savings for those who open a savings account by January 14.
Bank Republic (BR)
Bank Republic is launching a campaign of low interest rate loans. Starting from today until February 1, the Bank will disburse loans at fixed and unprecedented low interest rates.
Receive various gifts: Real estate and life insurance! And Credit card – Dream Card.
Mortgage loans are at exactly 11% in USD. Purchase, build or renovate your house and other real estate – Loan term – 25 years; Maximum loan amount – unlimited.
Auto loans are available at exactly 15% in USD. Purchase a new or used car. Loan term – 6 years; Maximum loan amount – 70,000 USD.
Consumer Loan is exactly at 15% in USD. You can purchase: Furniture; Household devices; Equipment; Personal items; Or you can just travel. Loan term – 6 years; Maximum loan amount – 30,000 USD.
ProCredit Bank
ProCredit Bank initiated the Transparency campaign this year, aiming to raise awareness of banking services among the general population with the key message that all associated fees and commissions be crystal clear for borrowers and depositors to let them make more informed decisions.
“Apart from the interaction occurring during the visit to the Bank almost no attention is paid to transparent presentation and simple explanation of banking services. Therefore, as a development oriented socially responsible bank, ProCredit Bank felt the need to contribute to the financial education of the general public and initiated a campaign aiming at increasing the awareness of the Georgian population about banking services, with the key message that all banking services and fees should be clear, transparent and easy to understand for customers so that they can make more informed decisions,” said Tinatin Nadiradze, PR Specialist, Marketing Department.
As part of the transparency campaign, the Bank has prepared an educational handbook, titled ‘what are the important things to know about banking services’. The handbook is written in simple language and contains necessary information for customers about the most common banking services, such as savings and loans. It also highlights some important aspects of bank contracts and has an additional section on Credit Info. Interested persons can get the handbook at ProCredit Bank branches. Educational lectures are being delivered at Georgian universities for students. The transparency campaign has already resulted in high interest among the general public.
Liberty Bank
Several new products are offered by Liberty bank.
“For this holiday season we have launched a special installment loan which gives the opportunity to buy electronics for one's homes or as gifts with special conditions. These loans are available at Elit Electronics stores in Tbilisi and Rustavi. With this installment loan one can have a special bonus and in addition an opportunity to purchase electronics without an initial payment,” says Nino Oniani, Head of Marketing Department
“We also introduced an uncommon product for our banking sector: Gift Card. This is especially convenient for people who want to save time while choosing gifts for their loved ones. This enables the recipients to get more personalised gift and spend whenever and wherever they want,” Oniani told us.
“Also we give a special gift to our remittance clients, a promo campaign was launched several weeks ago and has already become popular among the public.
We have a deposit product, M7, which offers +0.5% to the rate among seven successful banks in Georgia, so in this field we always offer high rates, not only for the holiday season but during the whole year.
Yes we permanently offer a raffle to our deposit clients: for this holiday season we held the last one and announced 16 new winners, our pensioners. During the whole year we will keep on with this raffle.” Oniani told to The FINANCIAL.
“We do plan lots of surprises for the New Year, especially in terms of developing recently launched alternative banking product: Smartivi, which offers special discounts, free utility bill payments, is an easy procedure without the hassle of paperwork or waiting for the bill to come to your house, and a high rate on the GEL savings account. It can be controlled online as well as via branches of Liberty Bank, which is the nation's largest banking network. Smartivi will become much more innovative and beneficial for our existing and potential clients. Keep up to date with what we're working on by visiting www.libertybank.ge. Stay tuned,” noted Oniani.
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