OREANDA-NEWS.  February 1, 2012.  In the past year Belarusbank raised USD 1.3 billion of foreign credit resources in equivalent which were used to start and continue implementation of 49 new investment projects. In December we have repaid a USD 145 million syndicated loan and, first of all Belarusian banks, are now approaching another syndicate to be implemented in February this year.

  Of course we could attract more foreign funds but their cost last year was often unacceptable.

  In spite of everything the bank does not leave the idea to implement its plans for the issuance and placement of Eurobonds and an IPO. In technical terms all the preparatory steps have been completed. The rest is a matter of time. We are waiting for the necessary conditions and corresponding background in the national and European economy.

 Financial results

  - The Bank's profit in 2011 amounted to Br607 billion and return on equity - 10%.

 Business lending

  - Belarusbank will fund high-efficiency projects the implementation of which is important for the national economy subject to investment of company's own funds in the project.

  Sale of minority stake

  - 3 years ago the Government issued the authorization to sell a minority stake (25%) of our bank. Today we turn back to this question. In previous years considerable work has been carried out with international partners to implement this concept. This project will be of interest for an investor particularly as regards entering the Belarusian market and in future the market of CES.

 Territorial network reorganization

  - Within the next year or two the bank will transfer to a two-level management system: head office - point of service or product sale. This is to ensure that our employees are engaged specifically in banking, rather than a reporting chore. Thus work efficiency and customer interaction will increase.

 Development of "unmanned techniques"

  - The bulk of payments should be transferred into a system of remote account management. The bank has all the necessary potential for that. 700 thousand of our customers are already using this service today.

  Outlets should provide services of a higher level and all the other issues will be managed by equipment.

 Problem debt

  - In the past year credit risks have significantly increased. But our specialists in close collaboration with customers managed to solve many of them in a timely manner while others were avoided. And at the end of 2011 the share of non-performing loans in the portfolio did not exceed 0.5%.

 Investment projects

  - Among the largest projects implemented with the participation of Belarusbank are the modernization of processing equipment of RPC "Integral", RUE "Belmedpreparaty", reconstruction of enterprises of the woodworking industry (JSC "Ivatsevichydrev", JSC "FanDOK"), of the chemical industry - JSC "Grodnokhimvolokno", supply of processing equipment for RUE "BMZ" and PA "MTW", construction of the hotel "Victoria" in Minsk and reconstruction of the hotel "Minsk", purchase of electric trains for the Belarusian Railways. In addition "Belarusbank" acts as an agent bank in the project of JSC "BeST" and the projects on construction of cement plants.

 Export credits

  - Since 2008 export credits to non-residents complemented the loan portfolio of the bank. Among the non-residents are the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. A number of projects related to export of our products are at elaboration stage.

 Priorities for the current year

  - First of all we will strive to improve the quality of development indicators. The main efforts will be made to create an IT-platform adequate to the business scale and the requirements of time, as well as to further development and improvement of risk management technologies with the purpose of improving sustainability of the bank's business and of course to creation of a high-class team of professional.