OREANDA-NEWS. November 8, 2007. LOCKO-Bank repaid its US$ 40 million trade-related syndicated loan and fulfilled its obligations to 19 lenders - reputable European, Asian and the United States financial institutions. The loan was LOCKO-Bank’s debut in the international syndicated loan market which was followed by a domestic syndicated facility for RUR 1 billion in June 2007.

In spite of the ongoing market turmoil, the Bank faced no liquidity gap with the repayment of this loan. However, to support further growth the Bank plans to attract a new syndicated loan further in 2007, a mandate letter for which has already been signed.

LOCKO-Bank demonstrates impressive pace of development with assets having reached RUR 25,164.9 million by 30 September 2007 (growth of almost 52% from the beginning of the year) and shareholders’ equity reached RUR 3,305.8 million (growth of 34% over the same period). Net income for the nine months ended on 30 September 2007 amounted to RUR 230 million against RUR 150 million for the same period in 2006. LOCKO-Bank showed good net income growth despite the turmoil in the financial markets in second half of 2007. Although net income was somewhat constrained by the continued implementation of territorial development strategy (10 new regional branches were opened in 2007 and 10 more are in the process of setting up), the Bank benefits from the subsequent loan portfolio growth.