OREANDA-NEWS.  April 25, 2013. The lender marked 19 years in business by announcing various promo initiatives and gift programs for depositors and cardholders joining the Bank this April.

Throughout April, Uniastrum is waiving all fees for anybody applying for a Standard Visa Platinum Card.

Under the special anniversary program, customers can use their cards as a way to save money while simultaneously earning interest on their card balance, which ranges up to 8% and 4% APR on ruble and foreign-currency accounts, respectively. Credit limits extend to Rb 1 million and new cardholders receive an initial interest-free grace period lasting as long as 55 days. Once the grace period ends, the interest rate is 19.9% APR for ruble-denominated accounts.

Depositors also have something to look forward to by way of a special offer prepared by Uniastrum in conjunction with Banki.ru, the Internet’s biggest Russian-language banking portal. Further details are available at http://www.banki.ru/specials/vklad-dostupnyi-2013/. New depositors joining the bank in April also receive gifts.

In the 19 years since its inception, Uniastrum has become a major universal and systemically important bank, operating in over 50 regions nationwide with a client count currently numbering over 500,000. The Bank’s core focus areas are the retail sector and small and medium-sized businesses. It is anticipated that loans allocated to these segments will grow to make up 70% of Uniastrum’s total credit portfolio by 2015. The Bank is currently one of Russia’s Top-10 largest lenders to the business community, according to Kommersant, places among the Top-10 for overall SME credits, based on Expert Ratings Agency rankings, and occupies a Top-20 position for auto loans and a Top-30 slot by private-label ATMs, according to figures released by RosBusinessConsulting news agency.

“Uniastrum has been working on the Russian bank services market for 19 years now. Although we’ve come a long way in that time, we certainly won’t be resting on our laurels and will be pressing ahead with a whole number of tasks, plans and ideas that are all designed to make our banking services even better, simpler, quicker and more convenient for our customers,” notes Uniastrum President Gagik Zakaryan. “On this anniversary day, I’d like to convey my best wishes to all our partners, staff and clients and wish them every success for the future.”