OREANDA-NEWS. On 15 May 2008 was announced, that BTA Bank and Korea Export Insurance Corporation (KEIC) sealed a cooperation agreement. CEO of BTA Bank Roman Solodchenko and KEIC Chairman Won Koo Kang signed the document on May 14, 2008 in Astana within Kazakhstan – Korea: New Cooperation Prospects Business Forum.

BTA Bank is the first financial institution in the CIS to sign this document with state-owned Korea Export Insurance Corporation. KEIC has significant influence on development of export and import relations between South Korea and its partners.

The document is a milestone in the development of trade and economic ties between the two countries. It is intended to bolster relations between BTA and South Korean banks through joint major projects in export and import operations and infrastructure construction.

"The cooperation agreement will facilitate an increase in trade flows, transactions and limits of South Korean banks for BTA and also an efficient implementation of projects of BTA clients with KEIC coverage. Clients will have competitive financing terms to service trade flows of businesses with Korean companies," Solodchenko said after the document was signed.

Bank TuranAlem JSC (BTA) is among biggest banks in the CIS with an extensive banking chain. BTA consolidated assets soared by 47.7% in 2007 up to 3,065 million tenge (USD 25.5 billion) as of January 1, 2008; capital rose to 452 billion tenge (USD 3.8 billion). BTA cleared 64.7 billion tenge profit (USD 538 million), which is 65.6% more compared to 2006.

BTA operates an extensive branch network throughout Kazakhstan (22 branches and 290 cash settlement centers) and a biggest chain of cash-in/cash-out ATMs. It services more than 1.2 million individual and 95,600 corporate clients.

Reputed Itogi magazine named BTA Bank The Best CIS Bank in 2006 and 2007 and Euromoney declared it The Best Bank in Central Asia. BTA also appears in the Banker’s TOP 300 and ranks the third in its Highest Movers rating. The Europe Business Assembly (EBA, Oxford, UK) named BTA ‘the Best Enterprise of Europe’ in the Eurasian banking sector in 2007.