OREANDA-NEWS. August 04, 2011. Uniastrum’s flagship office in Kazan marks a fundamentally new approach to premises design. The branch is modern in style, and features enhanced functionality and an eye-catching exterior and interior decor adapted to conform with the Bank’s new corporate identity. The office has separate areas for retail and business customers, comfortable meeting rooms, as well as a 24-hour AIM service. The building is fronted with the new Uniastrum logo in English and Russian, reported the press-centre of Uniastrum.

In addition to its flagship office, Uniastrum’s branch in Kazan includes two neighborhood banking centers in the Tatar capital and another office in Naberezhnye Chelny. Uniastrum offers people living in the republic a wide range of retail and business banking services such as, among others, cash management, foreign currency exchange, card issuance and administration, deposits, retail and business loans, promissory note operations, money transfers via the Unistream network acquiring services, and international payments.

Notwithstanding stiff competition in Tatarstan’s banking sector, in its seven years of operations on the local market Uniastrum has emerged as one of the republic’s top credit institutions with 9,000 retail and over 450 corporate clients. The Bank maintains successful partnership relationships with several of Tatarstan’s biggest companies working in the food, trade, catering and other sectors. In H111 the branch’s corporate lending portfolio expanded 10% to Rb 531.4 mn as of July 1, 2011. Since 2009 its small business finance portfolio has tripled to Rb 251.9 mn. Local confidence in Uniastrum is underscored by the sustained uptrend in deposit gathering. In the first half of 2011 the branch’s retail deposits increased 23% to total Rb 298 mn by July 1.

“The decision to open a flagship office in Kazan came about following a sizeable jump in business volumes and the branch’s customer base,” explains Eugene Tutkevich, Chairman of Uniastrum’s Management Board. “We continue to forge ahead with the network upgrade plan that we started late last year and before too long will be opening a flagship office in Omsk.”