OREANDA-NEWS. April 02, 2012. AccessBank has opened two new retail branches in Sumgayit and Mashtaga, named "Sulh" and "Mashtaga". The new "Sulh" branch is the second branch in Sumgayit. The first branch in Sumgayit has been very successful, having established a customer base of over 12 thousand clients within the last 9 years. Due to the first branch’s success and customer growth AccessBank’s management decided to open a second branch in the city. The new "Mashtaga" branch will extend the bank’s reach to residents in this settlement, making financial services more accessible and making the loan payment process for AccessBank customers living in this area more convenient.

Andrew Pospielovsky, General Manager of AccessBank commented on the opening of the new branches, saying: "AccessBank is constantly working on improving the services that we offer to our customers. We have opened these two new branches in Sumgayit and Mashtaga in order to better serve our customers’ needs and to make our services more accessible".

Upon opening the "Sulh" and "Mashtaga" branches, AccessBank’s branch network increased to 32 branches, covering most of Azerbaijan.

AccessBank was established to provide access to financial services for Azerbaijan’s micro and small businesses and low and middle income households. AccessBank is recognised as the most reliable bank in Azerbaijan by Fitch International Ratings (’BB+’ with ‘Outlook Stable’), and as “The best bank in Azerbaijan” by Global Finance (2011) and Euromoney (2010 & 2011) in their annual awards as well as “The Bank of the Year” by The Banker (2011). AccessBank is 100% foreign owned by six shareholders, consisting of: the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank – the Development Bank of the German Government (20% per each), Access Microfinance Holding acting in microfinance field as a strategic investor (16.5%), and LFS Financial Systems GmbH – a German consulting company (3.5%).