OREANDA-NEWS. January 14, 2014. The reputation of a bank is an inalienable link between customer and the financial institution.  For “Muganbank” OJSC, “reputation” and “confidence” are the key focus categories among its distinctly set priorities. Any Muganbank officer can proudly look back at the past to assess the Bank’s totals for 2013. 

The Bank’s growth took several strategic directions in 2013, such as the extension of product line, expansion of services network, development of international cooperation, involvement of interested parties in business process, etc. The steady and stable growth of the Bank led to a significant rise in its capital which exceeded 50 mln.manats by the end of 2013.

In 2013, Muganbank took the next confident step in the international financial market by placing at NASDAQ OMX Riga 7’000 Muganbank notes with the face value of USD 1 '000, recorded by JSC “Latvian Central Depository” ( LCD). Such initiative sets a base for Muganbank’s integration to international financial structures.

In 2013, Muganbank launched a partnership with Islamic Cooperation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) by signing a financing agreement with ICD in a total amount of USD 3,000,000. The ICD line of financing will be used exclusively to finance small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Azerbaijan in manufacturing, trade, industry, agriculture and other spheres.  

Also, significant steps were taken in the direction of developing international cooperation for “Monex”, an express money transfer system. The process of integrating “Monex” to “Money Polo” was accomplished in 2013. Thus, the number of “Monex” points exceeded 2000 considerably expanding the geographical coverage of “Monex” operations.

It is to be recalled that customers can send and receive express remittances both within the country and overseas through the express money transfer system “Monex”, set up by Muganbank in 2011.

Towards enhancing the product line, Muganbank for the next time proved to be an innovator, by offering unnamed prepaid “Visa Gift” cards in Azerbaijan for the first time. Muganbank is implementing the “Visa Gift” project jointly with VISA International.  Thus, Muganbank was the first in Azerbaijan to introduce the practice of obtaining a plastic card through retail outlets without the necessity to submit an ID card and stand in a queue at a bank.
 
It is worth noting that Muganbank has been offering bearer bonds, a unique product in the banking sector for four years long. These bonds which can be purchased from both Muganbank and its partner banks yield a chance of winning 2000 cash prizes every 45 days. Muganbank has already been successful in making its customers happy with thousands of cash prizes from 100 up to 500 000 manats.

Muganbank was the first among Azerbaijani banks to enable customers access FOREX, an interbank exchange market, through a trading station, by granting them a wide range of opportunities to conduct exchange marginal transactions and trade with various financial instruments.

The past year, Muganbank significantly widened its product line both in terms of deposits and loans, thus providing plenty of choices for customers.

Furthermore, Muganbank supported various conferences and events during the last year as a primary sponsor, such as International Banking Conferences (IBC-2013) in Israel and Russia, organized by The Moscow International Currency Association (MICA).

In order to actively implement international banking practices, Muganbank’s managing team regularly initiate trainings for the staff. One of these trainings was delivered by Vincent O’Brien, Member of ICC Banking Commission, under EBRD Trade Facilitation Program.

The activities performed during 2013 accompanied by innovative changes and a structural approach enabled the Bank to maintain a stable and dynamic financial growth.

Muganbank’s key priorities for 2014 include the development of cooperation with international financial institutions, expansion of services network as well as improvement of quality of service. 

Thus, Muganbank, keeping to banking traditions and being a vital part of the country’s banking environment is marching confidently towards 2014.