The FINANCIAL– ProCredit Bank Georgia has introduced a new service, called Direct Banking, intended for private individuals wishing to access banking services using digital sources. Customers are now able to remotely manage their own accounts, pay monthly fixed tariffs by carrying out desired bank transactions for free, and benefit from exclusive conditions such as loan products, mortgage loans, investment loans and overdrafts.
The concept of Direct Banking is the following: monthly, under certain tax conditions, clients have the opportunity to independently carry out their desired transactions and get exclusively low interest rates on loan terms.
“Due to the intensity of modern-day life, consumers have less and less time to visit actual bank branches, to wait in line in order to get their desired service, all within the bank’s working hours,” said Natia Tkhilaishvili, Director of ProCredit Bank.
“More importantly, banking services should be complex, permanently accessible, simple and cheap. Taking into consideration these requests, we decided to provide our customers with the most simple and fast system, integrated in one service – Direct Banking. With the diversity of remote channels and important investments in them, we’ve covered 99% of banking operations, which are already available for clients independently, in a specific time and space. According to the existing data, 10,000 ‘private individual’ clients are using this service. This number is expected to increase to 20,000 next year.”
In the current year, ProCredit Bank aims to increase business growth by at least 15-20% and improve its profit by GEL 20 million. The new services are planned to be offered for private individuals. During 2017 the growth of the Bank’s Green Portfolio amounted to GEL 40 million, which is 14% of the total indicator. The Bank plans to improve this number to 20%.
ProCredit Bank Georgia has been represented in the Georgian banking sector since 1999 and its main objective is to finance small and medium businesses that have long term development plans.
In the last year, ProCredit Bank’s loan portfolio grew by almost GEL 133 million and passed one billion. The growth of the credit portfolio of 2017 was determined by a 15% indicator that exceeded expectations at the beginning of the year.
ProCredit Bank has undergone strategic changes. It was absolutely separated from micro crediting and optimized entire resources for small and medium businesses. Concentrating on the specific segment contributed to the growth of the Bank and the high rate of profitability.
ProCredit Bank’s management summed up 2017 and talked about its future plans at a press conference held on 28 February. The meeting was conducted by members of the Management Board Alex Matua, Ketevan Khuskivadze, Davit Gabelashvili and Natia Tkhilashvili. At the meeting, the business strategy of the Bank, its achieved success, and future plans were all discussed.
During the conference, the details of three major projects from last year were discussed. The first – a co-financing project along with ProCredit Bank Germany, entails the co-financing of small and medium businesses within EUR 25 million. The second – project InnovFin, together with the European Investment Fund, entails 50 million resource guarantees for small and medium businesses, as well as for the introduction of new innovative technologies and the promotion of Green Financing. The third project, also related to the European Investment Bank with its volume of 14 million, is again a resource of 70% guarantee. Financing of any kind of project is possible within this agreement.
“Our target group still remains small and medium sized businesses. We believe that contributing to the development of this segment is the best way to increase the country’s economy and create additional work places,” said Alex Mataua, ProCredit Bank Director.
“We continuously conduct negotiations with various international financial institutions to attract credit resources. Our business loans have a competitive price on the market. We have a ‘Co-Financing’ Programme, which is implemented with ‘ProCredit Bank Germany’. Financing business projects within the framework of the programme is available even at lower interest rates. Last year, within the EU4Business initiative, the first guarantee agreement was signed between ProCredit Holding and the EIB Group, which envisages 70% guarantee for small and medium enterprises for each loan, favourable conditions of financing and a reduced demand on bail. Negotiations are currently ongoing for another kind of funding initiative, which will soon be available to customers.”
One year after having its shares placed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ProCredit Holding has mobilized EUR 61 million with almost 5.4 million new shares, which increased the company’s equity basis by 10%. The new shares were mainly invested in institutional investors in Germany and Great Britain.
ProCredit Bank Georgia is a member of the International ProCredit Group, which was founded by ProCredit Holding. ProCredit Group is mainly represented in Eastern Europe and Germany. The Bank has been awarded a “BB” rating by global leader in credit ratings Fitch Ratings, which is the highest possible rating in Georgia and is one step higher than the country’s sovereign rating.
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