The FINANCIAL — With the USD 40 million which Bank of Georgia will receive from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the bank will get additional resources for mortgage lending.
OPIC already transferred USD 6.3 million to Joint Stock Company Iberia for the construction of an apartment building for moderate-income families in Tbilisi. Iberia is executing the planned projects with Bank of Georgia. They will build a house on Kavtaradze St. followed by another one in Saburtalo district, Tbilisi.
“In this project Iberia invested USD 1 million and Bank of Georgia – USD 6.5 million. Monthly payment will start from USD 300 to USD 500. Construction completion is guaranteed and loans will be issued with lower interest rates,” declared Irakli Gilauri, General Director of Bank of Georgia.
On 27 October Bank of Georgia and OPIC signed a contract based on which the latter transferred USD 40 million to Bank of Georgia.
Robert Mosbacher, Jr., President and CEO of OPIC, announced that the corporation is working toward the approval of USD 176 million in financing for seven new projects in Georgia, which would inject much-needed capital into the fledgling democracy’s banking, construction and manufacturing sectors.
Mosbacher signed agreements for several of the projects at a ceremony in the Georgian capital attended by Georgian Prime Minister and Deputy U.S. Secretary of Commerce John J. Sullivan, who lead a delegation of senior U.S. officials to the country.
On 28 October, Bank of Georgia opened the 149th new service centre on Aghmashenebeli Avenue 83/23. The bank in total opened 32 branches and employed 1,900 people this year. The bank claims to be continuing strong retail expansion despite the Russo-Georgia war.
According to Gilauri this is the 20th branch by Bank of Georgia with the new design. It is a fast and high quality service centre. Around 20 people are employed in this new branch. The new design of branch means a new queue control system. From now on only such newly designed branches will be opened.
In his words, the bank invested USD 25 million in its branches. This year 32 branches were opened totally, 5 out of which were launched after the war.
“We are going to open 11 new branches during the next 6 months – 5 in Tbilisi and 6 in the regions. In total we have 91 branches in Tbilisi and 58 in the regions,” Gilauri told The FINANCIAL.
On November 3 Bank of Georgia is opening a new branch in Batumi and soon after a new branch will appear in the Oni region. Bank of Georgia most recently opened regional branches in: Mtskheta, Lanchkhuti and Sachkhere.
Bank of Georgia is continuing its efforts to be a socially responsible bank. On 2 November 15,000 trees were planted in Tsagveri. The trees will form a complete forest in 50 years.
Fire destroyed 700 hectares of forest during the Russo-Georgian war. On the behalf of every person who opens a term or a child deposit to the amount of GEL 500 or above at Bank of Georgia, a tree will be planted in the Borjomi-Kharagauli forest. All deposit holders who open a term deposit during this action will automatically be involved in the draw of a “win a million” lottery. To participate in the action, you have to open a minimum 3-month term deposit to the amount of GEL 500.
USD one million is being stored in Sighnaghi National Museum, which will be drawn on December 30 by Bank of Georgia and then a new millionaire will join the list of Georgian millionaires.
Bank of Georgia is No.1 by assets (circa 33, 9%), loans (circa 33, 1%), deposits (circa 29, 2%), and equity (37, 9%). Bank of Georgia serves over 880,000 retail clients through its network of 142 branches and 386 ATMs.
The bank, together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is organized into the following Strategic Business Units (SBUs) – Retail Banking (RB), Corporate Banking (CB), Insurance and Corporate Centre (CC) and Business Units (BUs) – Asset Management (AM), Wealth Management (WM) and Galt & Taggart Securities (GTS).
The bank’s net income for 1H 2008 amounted to GEL 60.3 million (USD 42.5 million) on a consolidated basis, while its equity book value and total assets stood at approximately GEL 783.1 million (USD 552.2 million) and GEL 3,401 million (USD 2,398 million). As of 30 July 2008, the bank’s ROAE and ROAA were 17.3% and 3.8%, respectively.
Bank of Georgia is listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE: BGEO).
Written By Sopho Kheladze
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