About

In March 2005 Fitch Ratings Agency assigned Belgazprombank the following ratings: Issuer default rating “B-”, Short-term rating “B”, Individual rating – “E”, Support rating – “5”. Outlook is “Stable”. In October 2008 Fitch Ratings upgraded long-term IDR to “B” and support rating to “4”, with short-tern IDR and individual rating affirmed. All ratings carry “Stable” outlook.

The Bank has a transparent ownership structure and has been producing audited IFRS accounts since 1994.

The Bank currently services more than 8,500 legal entities and over 100,000 individuals through its regional network of 7 branches and more than 36 outlets throughout the Republic of Belarus.

The Bank plays a major role in settlements for gas supplies to the Republic of Belarus as well as in settlements for transit of Russian gas to Europe. Since 2003 Gazprom has been carrying out all its activity in the Republic of Belarus through Belgazprombank. The state utility company Beltransgaz has also transferred its accounts to Belgazprombank.

Belgazprombank has a long history of cooperation with international financial institutions. Since 1994 the Bank has acted as an agent of the National Bank of Belarus in disbursing funds under the Loan Agreement between EBRD and the Republic of Belarus. In 1996 the Bank was accredited by EBRD to participate in its programme aimed at supporting small and medium size enterprises in the Republic of Belarus, which was followed by the Bank’s active participation in other EBRD projects, including the EBRD Trade Facilitation Programme. Currently the total volume of clean credit lines opened by EBRD equals to USD 15 mln, in addition, the drawdown under the EBRD's credit line guaranteed by the Belarusian government totals over USD 9 mln.

In 2005, the IFC and Belgazprombank signed a long-term (up to 5 years) unsecured loan facility agreement in the amount of USD 5 mln, thus supporting the image of the Bank as a reliable institution.

The Bank maintains an internal system for anti-money laundering, the main objective of which is to prevent any opportunity for money laundering of funds generated illegally and safeguarding the Bank from being involved in illegal financial operations.

2007 highlights:

According to Financial Statements under IFRS:

• Total assets increased by 90% compared to 2006 and exceeded USD 445 million;
• Working assets constituted more than 85% of the total assets;
• Net Loan portfolio increased by 95% to USD 229 million;
• The share of non-performing loans in total loan portfolio amounted to only 0.6%;
• Equity of the Bank of USD 44.4 million;
• Pre-tax profit of USD 6.0 million;
• Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) as of 1 January 2008 stood at 13.0%.

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